Wind the clock back to late October 2018. Fabinho, one of Liverpool’s expensive summer signings, had only made two starts since his arrival and serious questions were starting to be asked. Was the Brazil midfielder good enough for the Reds? Might he prove to be one of the club’s rare transfer market errors in recent years? His debut against Chelsea at the end of September had done nothing to allay fans’ fears and his only subsequent inclusion in Jürgen Klopp’s starting XI came against Red Star Belgrade in a relatively straightforward Champions League home game. Noise had even started to come from the French press that Fabinho was “bored” and looking towards the January window as a chance to join up with ex-Monaco teammate Kylian Mbappé at PSG. Klopp, though, was convinced that his £44m man was on the right track. After all, we had been here before. “Go back a year and look at Andy Robertson,” the German told a press conference at the time. “He played one or two games by this stage, not too many, and then he became the player he now is.” Klopp followed a similar slow introduction strategy with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and, if you look back a little further, with Ilkay Gundogan at Borussia Dortmund. Yet in this case it did feel a little different. Whereas Robertson came in for a modest sum from a Championship side, Fabinho had played in a Champions League semi-final, won the French league and cost a substantial amount. Big transfer fees, though meaningless in reality, skew our judgement. As a result of his, Fabinho was expected to slot straight in. But, even in the face of the doubts being raised, Klopp insisted. “He has all the qualities – hard challenges, good offensively, good defensively, quick, good shooter, fantastic set pieces, good header; all these things. Strategic too, he is good strategically in the right moment. But it’s been a different system. We just play different and that always needs time.”