Barring any major issues, Alisson Becker will be Liverpool’s number one next year after the Reds splashed the cash to sign the Brazilian from AS Roma.
With the fee quoted in the region of £66m, it surpasses the amount that Juventus paid Parma for Gigi Buffon at the beginning of the century.
While many might see it as overspending, FSG clearly don’t. It’s the Philippe Coutinho money being reinvested and they have every right to spend it.
As it stands, the goalkeeping situation at the club isn’t the best. Liverpool have three first-team keepers – Loris Karius, Simon Mignolet and Danny Ward – none of whom are convincing top-level keepers capable of carrying a team the way David De Gea does for Man United or, to a lesser extent, Thibaut Courtois does for Chelsea.
Karius had an excellent six months between the sticks in the second half of last season: 10 clean sheets in 19 appearances, zero mistakes leading to goals, conceded only 14 goals and made one penalty save. The numbers cannot lie. He is that good.
His mistakes in the Champions League Final, according to Klopp, were down to him being concussed. While we can criticise the fact that he wasn’t subbed off, the fact remains, we can’t judge his quality based on one game.
It’s a completely different story for the boy from Rio Grande, though.
He moved to AS Roma ahead of the 2016/2017 season and was confined to the bench behind first-choice keeper Wojciech Szczęsny, then on-loan from Arsenal. The Polish keeper signed for Juventus the following season and Alisson became the Giallorossi’s first choice.
I followed Alisson closely during his time at Roma, as part of my job working on AS Roma’s social media team. He showed flashes of brilliance when called upon, that being in European and Coppa Italia games.
Their 2016/2017 Europa League campaign ended prematurely at the hands of Olympique Lyonnais, but Alisson had already made a couple of excellent saves during the tournament. He particularly caught the eye against Villareal.
YouTube: ALISSON Becker Best Saves VS VILLARREAL
Fast forward one season. Szczęsny had left, and Alisson was promoted to the first-choice keeper. He immediately made an impact in Roma’s tantalising run at the beginning of the 2017/2018 Serie A season – where they broke the record for the number of consecutive away wins in the league, as well as going through the first 16 games, losing only twice.
Not to mention their historic Champions League run, where Alisson can be credited for keeping the Romans in the competition when they lost in Ukraine against Shakhtar Donetsk, only to reverse the score at the Olimpico and advance to the quarter-final stage. The highlight of that game was him saving a powerful shot from close range while he’s down, raising his elbow. That reflex timing and accuracy is something all of Liverpool’s current keepers severely lack.
Alisson is excellent in dealing with one-on-ones too. The Napoli versus Roma game last season comes to mind – where his outstanding performance got rewarded with a Man of the Match accolade.
YouTube: Allison Becker VS NAPOLI Serie A (4-2)03/03/2018
All we need to do now is look back to see how long he’s been performing so well. Alisson is a product of the SC Internacional academy, where he made his name. He performed well enough to earn himself a move to Europe – but this game against Sao Paulo was probably what turned European scouts’ heads.
YouTube: ALISSON | SÃO PAULO vs INTERNACIONAL | 12.11.14
It might be just a matter of time before the saviour from Rio Grande ends Liverpool’s goalkeeping woes.
