Fabinho has been left out of the Liverpool squad for their summer training camp, with the midfielder on the brink of agreeing a £40million move to Saudi Arabia.
Reds captain Jordan Henderson has travelled to the camp in Germany, though, despite also being linked with a move to the Middle East.
talkSPORT understands the club has received an official bid from Saudi Pro League champions Al-Ittihad for Fabinho.
They are one of four Saudi clubs owned by the nation’s Public Investment Fund, which also owns a majority stake in Newcastle United.
Al-Ittihad have tabled a £40m bid to sign the Brazilian midfielder, who turns 30 in October.
As a result, Liverpool decided to withdraw Fabinho from the pre-season squad, which flew out to Germany on Saturday, with the player’s permission to negotiate his exit.
Skipper Henderson has also been strongly linked with a move to Saudi Arabia.
The 32-year-old England international is believed to have accepted a huge £700,000-a-week pay packet to join Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard at his new club Al-Ettifaq.
But no official bid has been submitted for the midfielder yet, and so he was included in the squad that will head to Germany before flying out on their pre-season tour to Singapore.
talkSPORT understands 19-year-old Southampton midfielder Romeo Lavia is among the options Liverpool will consider to replace Fabinho.
The Reds could also rival Chelsea for the signing of £100m-rated Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo, 21.
Jurgen Klopp is overseeing a much-needed midfield overhaul this summer, with progress made already.
James Milner, 37, Naby Keita, 28, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, 29 have departed after their contracts expired, and the club has moved quickly to land 24-year-old Alexis Mac Allister [£45m from Brighton] and 22-year-old Dominik Szoboszlai [£60m from RB Leipzig].
The changes could be wholesale by the time the new 2023/24 Premier League season starts with Fabinho and Henderson likely to leave, while 32-year-old Thiago Alcantara has also been linked with an exit.
Fabinho will be joining a star-studded team in Saudi Arabia – Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante have joined an already strong Al Ittihad side which beat Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr to the title last season.
The other big movers in the Saudi Pro League are Al Hilal [also PIF owned] who have so far brought in Ruben Neves from Wolves, Kalidou Koulibaly from Chelsea and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic from Lazio, while they have also been linked with Neymar and Bernardo Silva.
Meanwhile, Al Ahli [again, PIF owned] have signed Roberto Firmino from Liverpool and Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, and are linked with an interest in Paul Pogba.