The next Philippe Coutinho can knock Man City out of the FA Cup before his expected move to Liverpool in the summer

Fabio Carvalho will play his first game on Saturday since his failed move to Liverpool and it just happens to be against Manchester City in the FA Cup.

The Reds were close to completing an £8million deal with Fulham but time ran out and the required paperwork wasn't filed before the 11pm deadline on the 31st of January but he is still "expected" to join the Reds.

A pre-contract agreement to sign Fabio Carvalho is "expected", reports Melissa Reddy, and so there is confidence among those close to the club that the skilful playmaker will still move to Merseyside in the summer.

Jurgen Klopp himself confirmed the Reds remain interested in completing a deal to sign the Portugal-born Englishman telling the media: “We are really interested still.

"We will see. It’s obviously not in our hands. It was late before the deadline and it didn’t work out. We will see what happens.”

Fabio Carvalho set for FA Cup clash with Manchester City at the Etihad

When it was announced that Liverpool were close to agreeing a €40m + €20m deal to sign Luis Diaz from Porto, there were some fans that had valid concerns over signing a player from Portugal's lower-ranked Liga Nos.

Frankly, despite producing some incredible talent, it doesn't compare to the Premier League and so clubs are often wary of signing players from the likes of Porto and Benfica but when fans stumbled upon a clip of Diaz violating Manchester City in the Champions League, all fears were put to bed.

Liverpool do their homework and his form this season (16 goals and 6 assists) is just a tiny piece of the puzzle as the Reds have been tracking Diaz for quite some time but he is a top player and has been performing in the Champions League for Porto as well as domestically.

So, could Carvalho help Fulham beat Man City and reach the next round of the FA Cup? I certainly think so although Pep Guardiola's side will be stronger than any other he has faced so far.

It will be a brilliant test of his abilities and show Liverpool fans what he's capable of and how he would handle playing the Reds' strongest Premier League rivals should they sign Carvalho as they're expected to in the summer.

The attacking midfielder has 7 goals and 4 assists this season and if he adds to that tally on Saturday, his stock will rise even further although there's no telling if that will have a bearing on transfer negotiations with the Reds.