Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford and former Liverpool midfielder Fabinho are two names you would not really associate with each other in football.
Bamford has never played outside of the top four divisions in English football, while Fabinho is a Brazilian who has played across several leagues across Europe, and is now Saudi Arabia.
When Fabinho was in his prime at Liverpool, Bamford was also producing the best football of his career at Leeds.
He netted 17 goals in Leeds‘ first season back in the Premier League, a run of form which helped him win his one and only England cap just over three years ago.
Almost exactly since that moment, Bamford’s career has been on a downward spiral ever since. Bamford missed the final few months of Marcelo Bielsa’s tenure at Elland Road through injury, and hasn’t ever really been able to recapture his best form.
Bamford’s strange story about ex-Liverpool ace Fabinho
The best season of Bamford’s career unfortunately came when football was played behind-closed-doors.
With no fans in the stadium, Victor Orta was often always the loudest and only voice that could be heard in the stands, whether that in home or away matches.
Speaking on the latest episode of the ‘My Mate’s A Footballer Podcast‘, Bamford has revealed how after he scored his first goal of the season in the opening day defeat at Liverpool, Orta started belting out his chant.
Fabinho was one of the starters for Liverpool that day and is a good friend of former Leeds winger Helder Costa, having spent time together at AS Monaco.
And from that game onwards, Bamford has hilariously shared how Fabinho would always send a voice note to Costa every time he scored singing his chant.
He said: “So we had Victor Orta, who some Leeds fans gave him stick, but he is honestly one of the best guys, like in football, in terms, of just, he’s is pure. Like he’s not like a bad guy. He just loves football and he’s very dedicated to his job.
“On Saturdays, he was absolutely bonkers. I mean, so there’s no fans, but obviously the directors and stuff could come to watch. And he was our technical director or director of football, whatever you want to call it.
“And I remember when we played Liverpool first game of the season and up in the Prem, I scored and he started singing like, do, do, do, do, like just shouting it. And at the time we had Helder Costa, who was good mates with Fabinho, the Liverpool midfielder.
“And I swear every time, like after that game when we played him, every time I scored on the bus home, Helder Costa would have a voice note from Fabinho singing my song.”
- READ MORE: What Daniel Farke has done to impress Patrick Bamford recently after unique Leeds United incident
Ousmane Dembele was also in Bamford fan club at Leeds
Fabinho was not the only big-name star in the Bamford fan club under Marcelo Bielsa, but incredibly, also Paris Saint-Germain winger Ousmane Dembele.
Dembele was at Barcelona at time and knew current Leeds goalkeeper Illan Meslier well following their time together in France’s youth setup.
According to Bamford, Dembele asked Meslier to get both his and Kalvin Phillips’ shirt as he enjoyed watching Leeds so much when Bielsa was in charge.
He said: “It’s Ousmane Dembele. That was totally out of the blue. I remember Illan, so this few years ago, he said, Pat, I need one of your shirts.
“I was like, why? And he said, [Matteo] Guendouzi asked me to get it. And I was like, why does he want it?
“He says, because Ousmane Dembele wants it from him. I was like, why does he want my shirt? And he said, basically, he really enjoyed watching Leeds under Marcelo, and he wanted mine and Kalvin’s shirt.
“So I was like, okay, he can have mine as long as he sends me his shirt back. And so I signed mine to him and he signed his to me from Barcelona.”
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