Fabio Carvalho has been described as the “perfect No. 10” by his new manager at Hull City, with Liam Rosenior explaining his plan for the Liverpool loanee.
Carvalho has joined Hull on loan for the remainder of the season, having seen his stint at RB Leipzig cut short due to a lack of game time.
Though switching from the Bundesliga to the Championship will be seen as a step down for the Portuguese, it offers him the opportunity to make up for lost time in his development.
Joining another Liverpool loanee in Tyler Morton, Carvalho is expected to follow him in taking up a key role in Rosenior’s ambitious side.
Speaking upon the 21-year-old’s arrival at the MKM Stadium, Rosenior hailed him as the “perfect No. 10,” which reveals his place in Hull’s 4-2-3-1 formation.
The 6?th Portuguese player to represent us! ??
? Watch Fábio Carvalho’s first interview as a City player in full on Tigers+!#hcafc
— Hull City (@HullCity) January 10, 2024
“He brings a level of quality and consistency,” he told the Yorkshire Post.
“His game intelligence is outstanding and coupled with his technical ability, his ability to see passes and finish actions, he is unselfish, he likes to link with players, he is what a perfect No. 10 is for me as a manager.”
Carvalho joins amid the ongoing absence of key forwards Jaden Philogene and Liam Delap, and appears likely to take over from Ozan Tufan in the central attacking midfield role.
Upon his move to Leipzig in the summer, there were murmurings of a fracture in the relationship between Carvalho and Jurgen Klopp, along with a frustration over his position.
“I was told that I would play as a No. 10, but we didn’t really play with a No. 10 last year,” Carvalho told reporters in Germany back in July.
However, the youngster later cleared up a claim that he “doesn’t really speak” with Klopp as a “misunderstanding,” with Rosenior now issuing a glowing verdict on Carvalho’s character.
“I want to connect with my players emotionally,” the Hull manager continued.
“If they’re in the team, out of the team, I care about them, and I think Fabio felt that from me.
“He knows I’ll do everything I can to develop him in the four months we’re together to get him to play at the best level he can.”
Rosenior added: “When I met him, I thought, ‘I’ll do everything possible to make him come here’.
“I sat with Fabio for hours and we were looking at our stats as a team, the way we play, our shape, our structure and where he fits and what he needs to improve on to get him to the level he wants to reach.”
Carvalho has been registered in time to take part in Hull’s clash with Norwich in the Championship on Friday night, though having not started a game since December 13, it remains to be seen how prominently he will be involved.
But the comments of his new manager will be music to the ears of those at Liverpool.
