‘I am happy… but I have things to improve’: Liverpool’s Fabinho insists the best is yet to come

Fabinho insists his best is yet to come as he vowed to play a major part in Liverpool’s quest to become champions.

The Brazil international had a slow start to life at Anfield following his £43.7million move from Monaco, perhaps slower than many envisaged, but he has found his rhythm in recent months and shown the qualities that saw him become an integral member of his former club’s title-winning squad in 2017.

His importance and versatility has been underlined by the fact Jurgen Klopp is ready to play him as a central defender in the first leg of Liverpool’s Champions League clash with Bayern Munich, given that Virgil van Dijk is suspended, Joe Gomez is out following surgery to repair his broken leg and Dejan Lovren is struggling to overcome a persistent hamstring problem.

Fabinho insists his best is yet to come as he vowed to play a major part in Liverpool’s title push

The Brazilian started slowly on Merseyside but is gradually finding his rhythm

Fabinho, hard at work in Wednesday’s training, hopes to make an impact the rest of the season

Liverpool are currently away in Marbella on a warm-weather training camp 

There were a number of bumps in the road early on but Fabinho is now happy with the level he is showing but believes there is significantly more to come and the more time he spends working the Klopp, the higher his levels will become.

‘I am happy,’ said Fabinho, who was part of the 31-man group Klopp took to Marbella on Monday for a warm-weather training camp.

‘I still have things to improve but I am happy overall with my performances. I am up to the speed of the Premier League and that was what I was looking for.

Asked if the slow introduction to life in England helped – he did not make his first start until the Carabao Cup tie with Chelsea on September 25 – Fabinho replied: ‘I think yes, but I think if it was up to me I would have been playing from the beginning. 

‘Maybe Jurgen could see something I couldn’t see, so not just conversations with him but all the staff helped me. I had patience to wait for my opportunities.’ 

Jurgen Klopp and Virgil van Dijk have a chat on Wednesday during Liverpool’s training session

The Dutchman leaps in the air to connect with a header during one of Wednesday’s drills

Trent Alexander-Arnold stretches for a ball as the squad a put through a relaxed session

Fresh-faced Mohamed Salah strolls across Liverpool’s Melwood training complex with a ball

Liverpool are on course to record their best ever Premier League points haul and will potentially eclipse the tally of 86 in 2009; the question, however, is will Klopp’s squad suffer a similar fate to Rafa Benitez’s team, who finished runners-up to Manchester United.

They are second favourites in the race with Manchester City but Fabinho hopes the experience he had with Monaco, when team that consisted of Kylian Mbappe, Benjamin Mendy and Thomas Lermar trumped Paris Saint-Germain, can be repeated.

‘I had a good season with Monaco, we scored a lot of goals and we had joy playing football and we have to do it here as well,’ said Fabinho. ‘Enjoy the games and go on the pitch with happiness and go game by game.

‘I know it is really hard to win a league, especially the Premier League, but we have experienced players here a Liverpool. I don’t know if I can help a lot because we already have experienced players. 

‘We know we are at the top of the table and it is important to be there at this point in the league but we cannot think just about the title, the title every time, because that can put extra pressure on us.’  

WInger Xherdan Shaqiri balances the ball on top of his head during Wednesday’s session

The Swiss will hope to play a part in the rest of the season as the Reds push for the title