Bayern Munich eyeing Liverpool’s Fabinho

It seemed that Thomas Tuchel and Bayern Munich had all but given up on the search for a number 6, defensive midfielder when Declan Rice decided to join Arsenal from West Ham United, but they’re still keeping their eyes open. So far this summer, they’ve completed signings for Konrad Laimer, Raphael Guerreiro, and Kim Min-jae, while there are also still heavy links they’ll wind up signing both Kyle Walker and Harry Kane.

Per Sky Sports’ Florian Plettenberg, though, Bayern is also monitoring the situation of Liverpool’s Fabinho. Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is in the midst of a midfield restricting at Anfield, having brought in both Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai and having said goodbye to Naby Keita, James Milner, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. In addition to the trio of departures, both Jordan Henderson and Fabinho are heavily linked with potential moves to Saudi Arabia this summer. Henderson is linked with Al Ettifaq, where Steven Gerrard is now manager, while Fabinho is linked with Al-Ittihad.

Per Plettenberg, Al-Ittihad wants to finalize a move for the Brazilian midfielder soon and Bayern is well aware of that fact. If a deal with the Saudi Arabian outfit were to fall through however, Bayern would reportedly be interested in swooping in for a potential deal. The club’s bosses have a good working relationship with Fabinho’s agent, Jorge Mendes. They’ve done business with Mendes before, which would certainly help at the negotiating table, should that time come for Bayern and Fabinho.

His current contract with Liverpool runs through June 2026 and he’s currently valuated at €42m per Transfermarkt, so there would likely be a considerable transfer fee involved if the opportunity presented itself to Bayern. If the deal with Al-Ittihad falls through, Bayern would have to decide if a move in excess of €35-40m would be worth it.

After his signing was announced in the early summer of 2018 just after Liverpool lost the Champions League final to Real Madrid in Kiev, Ukraine, Fabinho has wonevery possible club trophy on Merseyside. He’s made a total of 219 appearances for Liverpool across all competitions and tallied 11 goals and 10 assists along the way, most often being deployed as a defensive midfielder. In the 2019/20 season when Liverpool won the Premier League title, they were arguably at their best when it was a middle three of Fabinho, Henderson, and Georginio Wijnaldum.

Fabinho may fit the profile at Bayern, but would it be too steep of a fee, especially considering how hard Bayern is still trying to sign Harry Kane from Tottenham? Time will tell if this will materialize, and it could also hinge on what the future holds for Leon Goretzka, who’s been linked with a potential move away from Bayern this summer.

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