Liverpool's effort to sign Fabinho was unrivalled by any other interested club.
The midfielder arrived at Anfield from Monaco in the summer of 2018 for £39.3million.
He had enjoyed five successful seasons in France before the Reds made contact but Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United, Manchester City and Juventus has also all expressed their interest with the Brazil international's agent.
Fabinho's brother-in-law Ricardo Assis, who lived with him in Monaco for three years, told The Telegraph : “Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United, Manchester City and Juventus also talked to his agent, but it was Liverpool that made all the effort to sign him.
“ Klopp showed him videos of the team, explained why he wanted to sign him but he also made it clear that it wouldn’t be straightforward for him to be a regular starter from the beginning. Fabinho left the meeting determined to join Liverpool.”
Fabinho, 26, has become a key figure in Liverpool's set-up since his arrival and played a vital part in helping the club to claim their sixth European Cup last season.
He is now playing at the pinnacle of European football but it wasn't until newly-appointed Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho knocked on his hotel door in 2011 to ask him to join Real Madrid that a pathway to the upper echelons of the game started to become clear.
Fabinho first made his breakthrough in the group stage of the 2011 Copa Sao Paulo, Brazil’s most distinguished under-20 tournament, where he was reportedly being followed closely by scouts sent by Lucio Araujo, the brother of former Barcelona midfielder Deco and who now works with super-agent Jorge Mendes.
Araujo signed him up and Fabinho joined Fluminense's academy, won a call-up to the Brazil under-20 squad and then - aged 18 - moved to Portuguese club Rio Ave, then managed by now Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo.
Fabinho's life then took a surprising turn.
“I was in Portugal with him”, Araujo said.
“Jorge Mendes called me. He said: ‘Fabinho is going to Real Madrid Castilla [the club's reserve team].' Mourinho wanted Fabinho to be the replacement of Daniel Carvajal who was being sold to Bayer Leverkusen."
Even Fabinho reportedly did not believe the interest was genuine - he was convinced his agent was joking, even as the pair made the five-hour car journey to Madrid.
“He only believed he was joining Real when Mourinho knocked his hotel room door next morning,” Araujo added.
Senior opportunities were limited at the Bernabeu but the platform ultimately put Fabinho on a springboard to the top tier of European football and he joined Monaco in 2013 before arriving at Anfield five years later.
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