Fabinho has hinted that he wants to return to Real Madrid in his first transfer since leaving Liverpool in 2023.
Despite Fabinho clearly not being able to keep up with the pace of the Premier League when he left Liverpool in 2023, he has continued playing and even featured for Brazil at this summer’s World Cup.
Now, at 32 years old, his contract at Al-Ittihad is expiring and he is looking for a new club.
With Brazil having been knocked out of the World Cup by Norway, Fabinho has flown to Madrid to spend time with family.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Tuesday, November 1, 2022: Liverpool's Fabio Henrique Tavares 'Fabinho' during the UEFA Champions League Group A matchday 6 game between Liverpool FC and SSC Napoli at Anfield. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
While in the Spanish capital, he was asked by reporter Marcos Benito about what he plans to do next.
“My contract with Al-Ittihad is coming to an end, but I’m coming to Madrid because I have family here and we’ll be staying here for a while,” the defensive midfielder told El Chiringuito TV.
“When the World Cup ended, I wasn’t really sure what to do or where to go, but we decided to come here to be close to our family here in Spain.
“And it’s really nice here, too, so we’ll stay here for a little while.”
Fabinho was then asked directly whether he would like to return to Madrid to play for Jose Mourinho, for whom he made his sole appearance for Los Blancos in 2013.
PORTO, PORTUGAL - Tuesday, September 28, 2021: Liverpool's Fabio Henrique Tavares 'Fabinho' during the UEFA Champions League Group B Matchday 2 game between FC Porto and Liverpool FC at the Estádio do Dragão. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
He replied: “Man, Real Madrid. Who wouldn’t want to play for Madrid? It’s the biggest team in the world.
“But as for my situation, as I told you, I have time to think about it now. I’m going to talk to my agents and see what happens.
“Right now I don’t have anything lined up so there’s not much point in talking about teams or team names, but it’s a league I’d generally like to come and play in.”
The ‘biggest club’ or the ‘greatest club’?
VILLARREAL, SPAIN - Tuesday, May 3, 2022: Liverpool's Fabio Henrique Tavares 'Fabinho' celebrates after scoring his side's first goal to make the score 2-1 (2-3 on aggregate) during the UEFA Champions League Semi-Final 2nd Leg game between Villarreal CF and Liverpool FC at the Estadio de la Cerámica. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
A small section of Liverpool fans online have been irked by the fact that Fabinho called Madrid, “El equipo más grande del mundo.”
This has been translated by some outlets as ‘the greatest club in the world’, whereas others have claimed he said ‘the biggest club in the world’.
The former has been seen by a few as slightly inconsiderate to the club where he played the best football of his career, Liverpool.
In truth, both translations are correct as ‘más grande’ literally means ‘most big’ – so make your own mind up as to what he meant!
Either way, it isn’t worth getting upset about. What would actually be interesting is seeing if Fabinho can still play at the top level in Europe.