Jurgen Klopp admits Fabio Carvalho is unlikely to be in a “happy place” as he finds himself out of the Liverpool squad, but praised the player’s attitude.
It is now a month since Carvalho featured for the Reds in any capacity, and over three months since he made an appearance in the Premier League.
On Monday night, the Portuguese was left out entirely, instead joining Curtis Jones and Arthur in sitting alongside the injured Thiago, Ibrahima Konate and Luis Diaz behind the dugout.
Klopp was asked about Carvalho’s situation ahead of Liverpool’s trip to Newcastle – having scored a late, late winner in the reverse fixture in August – and admitted he simply chose other options for his squad.
“Fabio is a very young player, big talent, absolutely. He played well for us in a couple of games,” the manager explained.
“Now it’s the situation where we have to make the squad and he couldn’t make it for the last one.
“That’s how it is, that’s the truth.
“He didn’t play too often because, from my point of view, we needed different skills when we started or when we changed during the games.
“That’s pretty much all, he did nothing wrong.
“He improved a lot, he developed a lot, he’s a good kid in the middle of the group, in the middle of the squad.”
It should be pointed out that Carvalho only turned 20 in August and is in his first season in the Premier League, with patience required by all parties.
Nevertheless, Klopp accepts that his No. 28 is unlikely to be “in a happy place” despite approaching the situation “as good as somehow possible.”
“So that’s all fine, but [he is] obviously not in a happy place,” he said.
“In the moment you cannot see that on the pitch or when I see him, it’s not really obvious, but I can imagine.
“He’s a footballer, he wants to play and he didn’t play often enough.
“That doesn’t help a lot, but that’s another thing in a long career that you have to go through.
“For me, it looks in the moment that he takes it as good as somehow possible.”
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