The one £60m Premier League star linked with Liverpool who could be their perfect Fabinho replacement

Liverpool's midfield rebuild has been almost perfect in every way except one - replacing Fabinho in the defensive midfield role.

Alexis Mac Allister has been tasked with operating there for the majority of the season and has shown differing levels of performance, as has Wataru Endo, but it feels like Jurgen Klopp has failed to find an exact replica of what Fabinho brought to his side in midfield.

The summer transfer window saw the Brazilian midfielder head to Saudi Arabia to join their Pro League revolution, as he completed a £40m deal to sign with title challengers Al-Ittihad, alongside Karim Benzema and N'Golo Kante. He was a key figure for Liverpool after joining in 2018, going on to play 218 times for the club and emerging as one of the best defensive midfielders in Europe.

Therefore, his exit was always going to be a difficult transition for Liverpool to deal with. So far this season they sit top of both the Premier League and their Europa League group. Plus, they are also awaiting a Carabao Cup quarter-final against West Ham which shows just how well they have played as a squad to date.

Alongside centre-back, it's the only position which could be improved in the first-team and having someone to anchor the midfield like Fabinho once did would also allow for Mac Allister and other Liverpool midfielders to push on into a more advanced position - but who could fill that role?

One player who has been linked is Fulham's Joao Palhinha - a £60m fee has been reported but he was close to completing a move to Bayern Munich in the summer and is likely to be available in January or the summer. Despite being 28, the Portuguese international has the benefit of being a ready-made first-team player who is currently in/entering his prime years.

Last season saw him lead the tackle-chart in the Premier League with 147 - his incredible total bettered second-place by 47 and he averaged 4.2 per game which was far and beyond any of Liverpool's players. He is the type of midfielder that perfectly emulates what Fabinho did; he is able to screen a defence, sit at the base of a 4-3-3 and stop transitions.

His tall 1.90m frame and build is similar to Fabinho's (1.88m) and he is an almost like-for-like replacement who could help elevate Klopp's 'Liverpool 2.0' to a level that would see them become an even more superior team. Manchester City have Rodri, Arsenal have Declan Rice and Chelsea have Moises Caicedo, but Palhinha could be Liverpool's answer for the next few seasons.