As a Liverpool fan, I am ecstatic with the signing of Fabio Borini. It’s been years since we’ve signed a young prospect such as him and I’m intrigued as to what Brendan Rodgers has in store for him as well as who else he brings in alongside him.

So where to start?

Fabio Borini gathered his footballing traits from a spell at his hometown club, Bologna at a young age, but his youth career really took off when he earned a prestigious move to Chelsea in 2007 and was taken in by Brendan Rodgers for what would be the first of three times in his career so far. In a quick turn of events, he was swiftly the reserve’s first choice striker, scoring 10 in 11 appearances.

After only turning out for the Blue’s first team three times, Borini made a temporary switch to the Liberty Stadium where he was once again reunited with Rodgers. He scored on six occasions in nine outings for Swansea as they were promoted to the top flight and Rodgers declared: “There’s great joy as a manager in seeing a player who you first saw as a boy producing the performance of a man.”

Borini returned to Italy as he signed with Parma at the start of the 2011-2012 campaign but was immediately lent to Roma, and this is where the 21-year-old really started to flourish. He bagged nine goals in 24 showings, despite only averaging 70 minutes a game. The transfer was of course signed, sealed and delivered on July 13th with a reported fee in the region of £10m.

When we analyze his play, we see that Borini has a nominal impact when his side has the ball, preferring to remain on the last man to attempt to spring the offside trap. Borini’s inclusion in his team’s build-up can be seen as ineffectual as stats show he only made 16 key passes last term, coming out at an average 0.7 a game. However, creating chances will be something that Rodgers need not worry over, as Liverpool created so many chances last season but alarmingly had the worst chance conversion rate in the league. Fabio Borini possessed a pass completion rate of just 75.7% in his spell at Roma, something that would have to improve if he is to be a regular in Brendan Rodgers’ pass and move philosophy.

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