That campaign, his last ever signing for Jürgen Klopp in the January transfer window was supposed to be one of the most talented players in the Championship at the time in Fábio Carvalho. And while that transfer didn’t come to fruition in the winter window, falling through in the last minute, Edwards had put in enough of the groundwork to wrap up the signing a few months later towards the end of the season and just before he left his post at the club.
Carvalho was supposed to be Edwards’ last parting gift: an exciting supremely talented wonderkid who already had Premier League experience and who had set the Championship alight. And for the first few months of his time at Liverpool, it looked like Edwards as usual had delivered a masterpiece. Carvalho scored a winner against Newcastle United, netted against Bournemouth and after the World Cup break, he once again found the back of the net against Manchester City. But then at the turn of the new year, Carvalho went into exile and hardly featured at all for Liverpool.
In order to revive his career, the decision to move to RB Leipzig in the summer seemed like a smart choice. Leipzig has an excellent track record of developing players and the club’s ethos is centered around playing young players.
But Carvalho has gone from one bench to another since arriving in Germany. He’s started just two games this season for Leipzig and has featured in a total of 234 minutes, which amounts to about two and a half games of football. With his positional rivals like Xavi Simons absolutely thriving and in top form, it’s difficult to see a way in for Carvalho back to the first team set-up. It’s obvious the Portuguese U21 international is not rated by Marco Rose, and there seems little point in prolonging his stay at Leipzig.
Just before Michael Edwards left for pastures new and said his farewell at Anfield, he left Liverpool one last parting gift. Almost two years ago now, the former Liverpool sporting director announced he would be leaving the club at the end of the 2021/22 season.
