Liverpool appeared to let an industry secret slip on Monday evening when Fabinho’s ‘Player Contract Agreement’ was revealed to be nothing more than an old story taken from their own website.
Every major football club sits their new signings down behind a fresh contract with a pen in their hand. Photographers at the ready, the player signs the paper to make it seem like they are capturing the the moment the deal was completed.
That isn’t how it works; not at Liverpool, at least.
In actual fact, the contract Fabinho was signing was made of the words from a story that was published on Liverpool’s website on Friday afternoon. The story was Jurgen Klopp’s final press conference ahead of Saturday’s Champions League final.
The opening line of Fabinho’s contract reads: ‘Jurgen Klopp looked ahead to Saturday’s Champions League final with Real Madrid and declared: “We are here because we are Liverpool.”‘
Whoever created the fake contract did put in some effort to make it look like the genuine article, including the club crest at the top and the words ‘Player Contract Agreement’ below it. They also inserted bullet points and added a dotted line to sign.
There is, of course, no surprise to see that Fabinho’s contract is not signed in a room full of photographers, and isn’t one page long. In reality, the contract was probably ratified days ago and is much, much longer than a few hundred words.
Regardless, the deal between Liverpool, Monaco and Fabinho is complete. The Reds have agreed to pay £44million to bring him to Anfield, where he will act as a replacement for Emre Can, who is expected to join Juventus when his deal expires.
Fabinho’s arrival is a statement of intent from Klopp, who wants to further strengthen the squad following the success of reaching the Champions League final, where they lost to Real Madrid.
His move will be officially confirmed on July 1 but effectively completed the move on Monday when he arrived at Melwood alongside his agent Jorge Mendes, committing his future to the club until June 2023.
‘I am really excited about this move,’ Fabinho said. ‘This is something that I always wanted – this is a giant of a team.
‘The infrastructures of the club look exceptional. A football club of this size coming after my services? I didn’t have to think that much about coming over.
‘I will try to create my own history at this football club. Hopefully, on a personal level, I’m able to win titles with this club. I will try to grow and learn and improve myself, and to be part of the club’s history.’