I watched the Fulham game at the weekend and although it was my first view of Carvalho my natural instinct for spotting talent makes my viewing the equivalent of a regular club scout's 10th viewing.
He played left of a 3 man midfield although he drifted inside regularly.
Many websites had him down as left side of the front 3 and some had him listed as playing off Mitrovic but actually their midfield/forward formation was............
......................Reed..................Cairney.................Carvalho
Wilson................................Mitrovic..................................Kebano
Carvalho moved inside and forward regularly and Reed/Cairney covered the CM. He had no defensive duties which is just as well as he tackles like Coutinho. Kebano is hugely talented but very inconsistent but seems to be more consistent playing with Carvalho, they dovetail very nicely and read each other very well.
In every sense he reminds me of Coutinho; can't head, can't tackle, very comfortable in possession, can beat players and reads the game very well.
He has as high a ceiling as Coutinho had at the same age.
Fulham fans opine that he hasn't played well since coming back from injury last November and he was completely non-existent in the the last 30 minutes although Blackpool did single him out and he was the victim of several heavy tackles which did eventually take their toll.
Form is temporary as the saying goes and this kid oozes class. Fulham fans seem to think his drop in form is probably due to all the transfer speculation and they're probably right.
I'm not saying this kid will go on to become as good as Coutinho was for us but it certainly wouldn't surprise me,
Our one weakness is that we don't have a midfielder who can beat a man for speed/skill which in tight games can sometimes leave the front 3 with a supply chain issue.
Just before Coutinho left us we had Mané, Firmino and Salah playing up front and Coutinho played (very well) behind them in a free role but mainly on the left (a similar position the the one Carvalho played on Saturday) and I see no reason why he can't do a similar job for us.
The thought of perming 3 from Mané, Salah, Firmino, Diaz, Jota with perming 3 from Hendo, Jones, Fabinho, Elliot, Keita, Carvalho and Thiago (if he's ever fit) is very exciting.
Could he play as part of our front 3? I'm not so sure; he doesn't seem to have the same tenacity as our current forward players and might not be too good at closing opposition defenders down.
