After missing out on completing a deal for Fabio Carvalho before the transfer window closed back in January, Liverpool are now close to signing the Fulham youngster after agreeing an initial £5m deal with the Cottagers and agreeing personal terms with the forward.
Out of contract in the summer, the Championship outfit are entitled to a fee for the 19-year-old, having developed him since he joined their junior ranks in 2015. And the ECHO understands the Reds could eventually pay £7.5m for the Portugal youth international, with a 20% sell-on clause also agreed as part of the deal.
Had Carvalho completed his move to Anfield in January, he would have been loaned back to Fulham to finish the Championship season as the Cottagers look to win promotion. However, it’s now understood as there are no plans for him to depart Liverpool temporarily after joining, with the teenager likely to link up with Jurgen Klopp's senior side as opposed to the Under-23 ranks at the Kirkby Academy when he reports for pre-season.
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Should the Portugal youth international indeed enjoy a swift breakthrough into the Reds’ first team, he will join the likes of Harvey Elliott, Curtis Jones and Kaide Gordon as an Under-21s player included in their senior set-up. Yet due to his tender years, he would not need to be registered in Liverpool’s Premier League squad to feature next season.
However, it’s a different story when it comes to European competition, with Klopp needing to include the 19-year-old in his 25-man squad if he wishes to select him in the Champions League as he is ineligible to be registered as an U21s List B player.
This is because while clubs are able to select an unlimited number of underage players on List B, said players have to be, “...eligible to play for the club concerned for any uninterrupted period of two years since his 15th birthday by the time he is registered with UEFA – or for a total of three consecutive years with a maximum of one loan period to a club from the same association for a period not longer than one year. Players aged 16 may be submitted if they have been registered with the club for the previous two years without interruption.”
Such rules have resulted in Elliott being named in Klopp's squad for Champions League duty in the past two seasons, having made the move to Anfield from Fulham himself in 2019, and Gordon being ineligible for Europe following his move from Derby County last year.
Carvalho would boost Liverpool’s homegrown quota for the 2022/23 season, however, despite being a Portugal Under-21s international, and having been born and bred in Portugal prior to moving to England with his family in 2013.
The teenager was signed by Fulham in 2015, meaning he has already “...been registered with any club affiliated to The FA (or Wales FA) for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons, or 36 months, before his 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns 21)” to be registered as home-grown once he no longer counts as an Under-21s player.
He’ll also help fill the Reds’ quota of homegrown players for the Champions League next season too, if selected. However, he will only qualify as an association-trained player, with it being impossible for him to spend the required three years on Liverpool's books between the ages of 15 and 21 to qualify as club-trained.
Sides are required to name at least four club-trained players as part of a minimum eight homegrown players if they wish to name a full 25-man squad for European action. And while it's far too early to speculate on further summer arrivals or potential Anfield exits, Klopp will have plenty to consider when naming his squads for league and European action.
