The comment took Fabinho's entourage by surprise.
While discussing the Brazil international's contract extension with Monaco around mid-2016, they were approached by Portuguese manager Leonardo Jardim for a brief conversation during a visit to the club's headquarters.
"He came to me and smilingly said, 'Fabinho is going to be the best defensive midfielder we'll find in Europe,'" Lucio Araujo, one of the player's agents, recalls Jardim predicting.
Lucio, who is also the brother of former Barcelona, Chelsea and FC Porto legend Deco, might have been representing Fabinho, but he wasn't initially buying into the idea.
Neither was Fabinho himself.