Wednesday 5 June 2019 11:38, UK
Xabi Alonso has praised Fabinho after his debut Liverpool season and believes there are "similarities" between their playing styles.
Brazil international Fabinho, 25, arrived at Anfield in July 2018 from Monaco for £43.7m and made 41 appearances for the club as they won the Champions League and finished as Premier League runners-up this term.
Alonso, who won the Champions League at Liverpool in 2005 - and played with Fabinho at Real Madrid during the 2012-13 season - believes that the he has made a substantial impact on his team-mates on the pitch in the holding midfield role, which the Spaniard previously occupied.
"I think that we could have similarities in terms of the position," Alonso told Liverpool's official website.
"In terms of how we want to connect with the players around, how he makes the players around him better players, making them play easier and play better.
"Taking many small, correct decisions is part of being a midfielder and he does it very well.
"(When) he came to Madrid and you could see that technically he was very good, physically he was very good, but he was playing right-back."
Fabinho made just a single appearance for Real during his one-season spell but progressed during his time at Monaco, playing 141 matches and winning Ligue 1 in 2016-17.
"I think that he can play everywhere because of his understanding of the game and he is able to read what's going to happen and how he wants to do it, but I think the step he made in Monaco was beautiful," Alonso added.
"Playing that midfield role, he's able to connect to the close ones, to the farther ones and I really like the way he plays: his understanding of the game, he's involved in the game, taking the small decisions but ticking in all of the moments and I think that's the job of a midfielder."
