Fabinho joins Al Ittihad in £40m deal

Brazil midfielder Fabinho has left Liverpool after signing a three-year deal with Saudi Arabian side Al-Ittihad.

Al-Ittihad offered £40 million ($51 million) for the 29-year-old player, so Liverpool didn’t take him on their preseason trips to Germany and Singapore.

He will play for Al-Ittihad, which is one of four Saudi clubs run by the Gulf state’s sovereign wealth fund. Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante will also be there.

In 2018, Fabinho moved from Monaco to Liverpool. He played 219 times for the Reds and won the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, and Club World Cup.

“Today I leave my home. It’s been five years wearing this jersey and always with the greatest honor and happiness possible,” Fabinho wrote on Twitter, which is being rebranded as X.

“Since day one at Liverpool, I’ve been embraced by everyone,” he added. “In these five years, I grew as a player, as a man, I made dreams come true… With that jersey, I won every title a player can dream of.”

Today I leave my home. It's been five years wearing this jersey and always with the greatest honor and happiness possible. Since day one at Liverpool, I've been embraced by everyone. What I saw inside this club, the relationship between the people there, made me feel like family.… pic.twitter.com/r2c7dOwKqV

— Fabinho (@_fabinhotavares) July 31, 2023

His departure comes after Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson ended his 12-year stay at Anfield last week, moving to Saudi Arabia to play for Al-Ettifaq, who are coached by Steven Gerrard.

Fabinho’s compatriot Roberto Firmino left Merseyside to sign for Al-Ahli earlier this month.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has also seen midfielders Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and James Milner depart on free transfers since the end of last season.

But the club have reinforced that area of the field with the signings of Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai.