the tournament for quasi national
teams made up of home-based
players only. The next CHAN finals
are in Algeria inJanuary 2023.
Before his move to Zambia,
Asanovic had been an assistant coach
for his own country’s national team,
before scouting the diaspora for the
federation. He also worked at clubs
in Russia, Australia and Saudi Arabia.
The much-travelled former
central midfielder is hoping his
own experience as a player with
the burgeoning Croatia team of
the1990s will help as he takes
on his first national team job.
In the last years of Yugoslavia,
he was one of the league’s leading
players with Hajduk Split and in
1990 played for Croatia in their
first international since World War II,
going on to win 62 caps and reach
the1998 World Cup semi-final in
France. His club career took in spells
at Metz, Cannes, Montpellier, Real
Valladolid, Derby County, Napoli,
Panathinaikos and Austria Vienna.
“I’ll never forget these parts of
my life, but that was a long time ago.
Now I’m a coach and I really want
to put everything I can into the job.
This is a crucial moment for Zambian
football, and I really believe I know
how I can put Zambian football
back to a high level.
“We have massive potential,
and I will do everything to make
this country happy again,” he adds.
Mark Gleeson
I
f at first you don’t succeed,
try again; that was Liverpool’s
attitude to the capture of
Fulham youngster Fabio
Carvalho. After time ran
out on deadline day of the
January transfer window as
the Reds tried to secure a last-minute
deal for the19-year-old, they have now
got their man.In reality, the delay makes no
difference, given that the initial plan
wastoloanCarvalhobacktothe
Championship leaders until the end
of the season anyway. A move to
Anfield was inevitable, with his current
contract due to end in the summer
and a five-year deal at Anfield already
agreed. Given his age, a fee had to be
negotiated: £5 million up front, £2.7m
in add-ons and a 20
per cent sell-on fee.
So, what have
Liverpool got for
their money? An
outstanding young
talent, it seems.
Fulham’s return
to the Premier League had been all but
mathematically safe for a while, before
finally confirming promotion in mid-April
with a 3-0 win over Preston North End.
Carvalho has played no small part in
that: operating behind Aleksandar
Mitrovic, the Championship’s record-
breaking goalscorer, he had nine goals
and seven assists when Fulham’s
promotion was confirmed, while only
two teenagers (Alex Scott of Bristol
City and Peterborough’s RonnieEdwards) had played more minutes
in the top two divisions this season.
Regular watchers of Fulham highlight
his work rate without the ball, as well as
his technical ability with it, making him
an attractive recruit forJurgen Klopp’s
notoriously high-pressing side.
The move will see Carvalho reunited
with his former team-mate Harvey
Elliott. As well as graduating from the
Fulham academy together, the pair
also played in the same England
Under-17s side.
Carvalho remains a target for Gareth
Southgate and England, despite winning
two caps for Portugal’s Under-21s in
March. Born in Lisbon, he moved to
London at the age of13 and remains
eligible for the Three Lions, and
Southgate recently toldThe Athletic
that he is a fan of the youngster: “We
would like him in our Under-21s but
he hasn’t got an English passport,” he
explained. “He was able to play in our
younger age groups without a passport
but he’s got to pass the tests to be able
to get the passport, so we couldn’t
select him for the [Under]-21s. We’d
like to have done that.”
Whether an outright tug-of-war
breaks out between Southgate and
his Portuguese counterpart Fernando
Santos will depend on how quickly
Carvalho settles on Merseyside. Klopp’s
tendency is to break players in slowly
as they adjust to his style of play, but
a successful pre-season could see the
youngster elevated into the first team- as Elliott proved last summer, starting
the campaign as a first-team regular
before suffering a fracture dislocation
of his left ankle in September.
Fulham may harbour hopes of
landing Carvalho on loan for another
season, as they bid to end their cycle of
yo-yoing between the top two divisions,
but if he lives up to his reputation as
one of the most promising young
players in the country, Liverpool
will want to keep him close.
Jamie EvansIn form...Carvalho
celebrates scoring
in this season’s
ChampionshipFabio Carvalho
Highly-rated Fulham youngster
agrees summer move to LiverpoolPEOPLE AND PLACES IN THE NEWS“We would like him in our
Under-21s but he hasn’t got
an English passport”
England manager Gareth SouthgateNew man in charge...Aljosa Asanovic