Liverpool transfer sees rivals hit with ban and hefty fine for breaching Premier League rules

Fábio Carvalho's move to Liverpool at the start of last season has seen his former club Fulham punished. The 21-year-old joined the Reds in the summer of 2022 and he went on to make 13 appearances last term.

Carvalho scored twice, including a last-gasp winner against Newcastle, but was loaned out to RB Leipzig for the start of this season. That move didn't work out but he has shone with Championship side Hull during the second half of the campaign.

Yet Fulham has been punished by the Premier League for breaching registration rules following Carvalho's move to Anfield. He had initially joined the Cottagers academy from local grassroots side Balham Blazers in 2014.

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The punishment relates to a payment made by Fulham to Balham, as a sell-on fee, when he joined Liverpool. The agreement had already been in place between the two clubs and Fulham paid the fee, despite Balham not meeting the criteria for a 'transferor club' under Premier League rules.

A Fulham statement read: "The Premier League and Fulham FC have entered into a sanction agreement following the club’s accepted breaches of the Premier League Rules in relation to player registrations.

“The club will face a six-month ban (suspended for one year) from registering any academy players currently or previously registered with another club and will pay a $94k (£75k/€88k) fine. The suspended registrations ban commenced on 15 April 2024."

Carvalho's form has helped Hull mount an unlikely push for the Championship play-offs this season. He has scored nine times in 19 appearances and Hull vice-chairman Tan Kesler has previously indicated he would like to keep the midfielder.

He told inews: "[He has] a Premier League level salary and Liverpool is going to demand quite a bit of a transfer fee for him. The chairman would want to sign him, he would do it in a heartbeat, if there’s no FFP, no regulations, no control, I’m sure we will invest to sign Fabio.

“If we’re promoted for sure we will pursue him because of the money we would be receiving, we would try to allocate those finances on players like Fabio. It can be unrealistic expectations for some of our fans but we’re very optimistic.”

Liverpool.com says: Carvalho has enjoyed a decent loan spell at Hull and playing regular first-team football this season was key to his development. He could yet secure a place in the play-offs and possibly promotion for the Tigers. You would expect Arne Slot to take a look at him in pre-season before making a decision over his long-term future.