Liverpool would have missed out on transformational Fabinho signing had transfer error not been made

Fabinho has now been a Liverpool player for just over two years, but it could have been a different story for the Brazilian.

Brought in from AS Monaco for a fee of £38million, the defensive midfielder, or number six, as Jurgen Klopp would call him, has proven to be a game-changer for the Reds.

He has allowed Jordan Henderson to return to the more box-to-box role that he prefers and has added even more steel to a midfield that was already excelling in its function.

But as Josh Williams said on the Analysing Anfield podcast: "If Emre Can had stayed, Liverpool would not have signed Fabinho - they signed Fabinho as the six who could also play centre-back and right-back, and who is big and tall.

"I doubt they would have needed him had Can stayed."

Can departed Anfield at the age of 24, for free, having run down his deal, moving to Juventus. To lose a player of that age, having spent time and effort developing them, is exactly the type of deal that Liverpool aim to avoid.

Can has been well replaced, with Fabinho, Henderson, Gini Wijnaldum and many others more than capable of covering his role, and the German has since moved on again from Serie A, but letting his contract expire and therefore not getting a fee for the now-26-year-old was an error quite unlike Michael Edwards.

After all, Can was not a bad player at Liverpool, though he perhaps would never have become a regular starter under Klopp.

Williams added: "He’s not as mobile as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Henderson harries more, but I do think Can was quite a good presser at Liverpool.

"If you just look at the pressing numbers, you overlook other elements of his game.

"The thing with Can is that I always felt that he viewed Liverpool as a stepping stone, even when Klopp came.

"He was a good player but there is no chance he would start in a team that is consistently competing at the top end in Europe.

"He’s a good, solid player, but he’s not elite."

Can is better as a number six in a double-pivot, as is the case at Borussia Dortmund but rarely at Anfield, where he works well with Axel Witsel, a reported Liverpool target once upon a time when he was still at Zenit.

But the £25million fee that Dortmund paid Juventus for Can's services is not something that will delight Liverpool.

And even though once he had settled on Merseyside, their Can replacement has been perfect so far in his Anfield career, there is an argument that that substantial transfer fee would have been handy to cover the cost.

Edwards made an error in letting someone of Can's value leave for nothing, but even so, in Fabinho, things worked out in the end.