Star Metro - Fabinho leaves Liverpool for Saudi club Al-Ittihad

The 29-year-old was left out of Liverpool's pre-season squads for trips to Germany and Singapore after Al-Ittihad made a £40 million ($51 million) bid for him.

He will join Karim Benzema and N'Golo Kante at Al-Ittihad, one of four Saudi clubs controlled by the Gulf state's sovereign wealth fund.

Fabinho joined Liverpool from Monaco in 2018 and made 219 appearances for the Reds, winning the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Club World Cup.

"Today I leave my home. It's been five years wearing this jersey and always with the greatest honor and happiness possible," Fabinho wrote on Twitter, which is being rebranded as X.

"Since day one at Liverpool, I've been embraced by everyone," he added. "In these five years, I grew as a player, as a man, I made dreams come true... With that jersey, I won every title a player can dream of."

His departure comes after Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson ended his 12-year stay at Anfield last week, moving to Saudi Arabia to play for Al-Ettifaq, who are coached by Steven Gerrard.

Fabinho's compatriot Roberto Firmino left Merseyside to sign for Al-Ahli earlier this month.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has also seen midfielders Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and James Milner depart on free transfers since the end of last season.

But the club have reinforced that area of the field with the signings of Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai.

A.Bergeron--SMC