Fabinho will play for Al-Ittihad, this is Klopp's plan to replace him in the short-term

This summer we have already seen the departure of great Liverpool players who in past years were very important to the success of the team, such as James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita, and more recently we suffered the departure of Jordan Henderson, who left for Saudi Arabia to join Al-Ettifaq.

Now everything seems to indicate that the next to leave Anfield will be Fabinho, as the 29-year-old defensive midfielder is reportedly close to signing for Al-Ittihad, where he will partner Karim Benzema and N'Golo Kanté. His departure from Liverpool is imminent according to several reports, because although his transfer was stalled due to bureaucratic problems, now everything seems to have been solved and there are those who claim that his departure will be made official in the coming days.

Fabinho's departure was not budgeted in the mind of Jürgen Klopp, who had considered him as a starting player for next season, which is why he now has the urgency to think about who could replace him. Liverpool's plan is to sign Romeo Lavia to play in that pivotal position, but his signing has not yet been finalized, although it is believed that the second offer from the Anfield board, which was £45 million, could be enough to bring him to Liverpool.

For now, Klopp must come up with a plan to replace Fabinho in the short term, at least for the pre-season games, as he needs to find a player capable of fulfilling that role in his scheme and it seems that he has already decided on someone to play as a holding midfielder.

Klopp's choice for Fabinho's immediate replacement

During the first two games of pre-season, Jürgen Klopp has used Trent Alexander-Arnold as a number 6. It seems that this is just an experiment and it is not believed that Klopp will decide to use him in that position throughout the season, but for now it is he who has played in that position that will be vacated by Fabinho when his transfer to Al-Ittihad is completed.