Liverpool: How did new Reds player Fabio Carvalho reach stardom from a small club?

Carvalho, now 19, had just arrived from Portugal, where he was registered with Benfica. His parents encouraged him to join a team in England so he could settle there, and Crotwell and Balham were delighted to have the young player on board.

“There was an aura around him,” Crotwell says. “He had the quality of a star.”

“His first touch was a lot of skill, he was technically brilliant, he had an amazing balance, he was very fast. He had all the natural ingredients to shine in the role of a playmaker.”

And he continues, “At the end of that training session I asked his mother, who was not good at speaking English, to bring him to another training and told her that he was great. He kept coming and we signed him in the end.”

“He was a lovable and humble kid, and all he wanted to do was play football anytime, anywhere,” says Crotwell. “His parents were humble, they weren’t pushy at all.”

He added: “He wasn’t thinking of becoming anything in this game, he just wanted to play. Our team was the Balham Blazers at the time and he heard about us in a way. We had a good reputation in terms of developing players and their passing ability. Fortunately when he came to us we were working with a group his age, and we all know what happened after that.”

Carvalho settled in Balham and in 2015 began attracting the attention of the biggest clubs in England and Europe. Crotwell, who admits to being a Fulham fan, played a key role in facilitating his next move, but until then no one was in a hurry regarding that move.

“Although he had played for Benfica before, his parents wanted him to join a good club and develop,” says Crotwell. “They were very happy to keep him in mind for longer than he did. In the end, the inevitable happened and the offers came.”

“They were very comfortable and trusted us about our ability to develop it. His father saw him doing well. When you are between 10 and 14 you have to develop, but you need to have fun too.”

He continued: “He played with us in a tournament in Guildford where each team had six players, and he became famous after that. He was unbelievable levels. We were packed inside the club when it was raining and I heard people talking about him. (A movement in which the player uses his less powerful leg to stabilize his body above the ground and then wraps his second leg around the first to shoot the ball with the stronger foot)!

Fulham realized Carvalho’s value early on, at a time when other clubs such as Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool were also courting the player.

“We dealt with the other clubs, because his parents felt pressure from all of these clubs to get in touch with them,” Cotwell says.

“There was a lot of interest in signing him. It was the right time for him to move to another club, Fulham was the best option, the club’s youth academy is in the first category, and it is still doing very well today. It is one of the best youth academies, We felt Fabio would have a good chance there. Huo Jennings, who ran the youth academy at the time, was doing an amazing job and brought in great players like Patrick Roberts and Ryan Sessegnon.”

He continues: “Fabio and his parents were not impressed by Chelsea’s interest, for example. If you go to Cobham [ملعب تدريب النادي], you’ll find it’s like Disneyland, but they’ve seen the bigger picture. They also insisted that Balham be part of the deal, and we played a crucial role in that.”

“We ran the negotiations superbly and came up with an unprecedented deal for grassroots football,” Cotwell says. “We put a clause in place that would allow us to get a percentage of the player resale, and Balham got a lot of money out of it. It’s a fantastic deal, and what he did was incredible. scene for us.

When Carvalho was in the youth team at Fulham, he played alongside his future teammate in Liverpool, Harvey Elliott, when he was captain of the England under-17 team.

After signing a professional contract with Fulham in 2020, Carvalho did not participate much under the leadership of Scott Parker in the Premier League, before becoming one of the main pillars under the leadership of Marco Silva in the season in which the team won the first division title, where he scored 10 goals and assisted Eight more goals in the 38 games he participated in as the attacking midfielder.

Since the beginning of the year, Carvalho has been playing for the Portugal under-21 team, and he hopes to join the Portuguese national team.

“There was interest in him from all the clubs in the world, but he was not affected by all the noise and he was the same kid,” Crotwell says.

“I am still in contact with his family. They insisted that we join them on the pitch after the Preston game to celebrate Fulham’s promotion to the Premier League. It was a wonderful thing, a dream turned into a reality.”

Crotwell was not involved in Carvalho’s transfer to Liverpool, but he supports him with full force to achieve success with the Reds.

Cotwell predicts Carvalho’s future with Liverpool: “Carvalho’s way of playing suits Jurgen Klopp perfectly. The great thing about him is that he always makes things simple. He passes the ball, he moves at a fast pace, he sees the field wonderfully. He could be the player of this generation to be able to Compensation for players like Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane.

Cotwell concluded his speech by saying: “If he has the necessary patience, he will get what he wants, and I am sure he will continue to work hard. I am absolutely confident that he will succeed.”