Fabio Carvalho acknowledges that he had hoped for “more minutes” at Liverpool this season, but he now has “patience” and is seeking to “level up” for the following campaign.
Carvalho’s debut season at Anfield has been unsatisfactory; in 20 games, he has only played 631 minutes.
The 20-year-old has made eight starts, but in the previous four months, he has only made three appearances. His game time has dried up since the end of December.
It makes sense that Jurgen Klopp has shown his frustration on several times when speaking about his No. 28 jersey. Prior to the 2-1 victory over West Ham, he acknowledged that there had been “no decision” made on his future with the team.
It’s unclear at this point if Carvalho will be loaned, sold, or kept, but the attacker told Hypebeast that he would want to stay.
“I’ve learned a lot from it, but it’s been an interesting season,” he remarked.
“Obviously, I would have preferred to play more minutes at the club, but I believe I’ve learned a lot of important lessons that will help me get better in the future.”
“Patience…and the importance of taking your chances,” Carvalho said in response to a question about the most important lesson he has learned at Liverpool so far.
“You have to be prepared to step up and be dependable when you’re chosen at a team like Liverpool.”
On Wednesday night, Carvalho was at least added to the replacements’ bench for the first time in four games, and Klopp had complimented the player on his “exceptional” attitude during training.
The manager, however, turned to Thiago, Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, and James Milner from the bench and did not offer any minutes on the field.
The caliber of Klopp’s substitutes belies Carvalho’s challenging challenge as he attempts to make a breakthrough, but Curtis Jones’ unexpected comeback—he has now started the last five games—might give Carvalho hope.
Jones and Carvalho were members of a group that was frequently left off of matchday squads earlier in the season.
It remains to be seen if it results in another appearance for the Portuguese player before the season ends, but when questioned about his goals for the remainder of the current campaign and the next, there was a feeling of hope.
Carvalho stated, “I want to level up and get more minutes under my belt before the new season.”
“We have a final stretch of games to demonstrate my abilities as a player and what our team can accomplish!”
