Recent reports have claimed that Jurgen Klopp’s Reds will now face a tough battle to land Brazilian keeper Alisson Becker after Zinedine Zidane’s Real Madrid have ignited their interest in the AS Roma shot-stopper. Liverpool have improved immensely since Klopp’s arrival back in October 2016, but ever since the German boss took charge of the Merseyside club, they had always had defensive issues. Klopp is now keen on fixing his problems at the back, which also includes bringing in a new goalkeeper.
Klopp has been criticized by the Liverpool faithful for focusing only on the attacking aspect of the game and conveniently ignoring the problems that they have in defense. Belgian international Simon Mignolet joined Liverpool in 2013 from Sunderland under then manager Brendan Rodgers but the 29-year-old has always made costly errors in big games which have literally cost Liverpool trophies at times.
When Klopp arrived at Anfield, the German brought in another German keeper to replace Mignolet in the form of Loris Karius as youngster arrived from FC Mainz in the summer of 2016. The 24-year-old has failed to impress the Anfield crowd despite being officially termed as Liverpool’s number one keeper by their manager. Karius is also prone to constant mistakes and is not as commanding of his area as many expected him to be when he initially signed for Liverpool for a fee of £4.7m.
And rumors have emerged that Alisson is one of the most wanted keepers in Europe at the moment. The Brazilian keeper has been incredible for the Italian capital side as he has pulled out stunning saves this season to keep opposing teams at bay. At 6’3 he is a big figure in goals to intimidate incoming oppositions and is very decisive and takes control of the penalty area very well.
The 25-year-old has been amazing for Roma between the sticks, but with the Serie A outfit currently fifth and unable to qualify for the Champions League next season, Liverpool were interested in swooping him up as they did with Mohamed Salah in the earlier summer transfer window. And Alisson would definitely be an upgrade over any of the two Liverpool keepers at the moment.
However, The English giants will face stiff competition to sign the goalkeeper with European champions Real Madrid also sharing an interest in Alisson as a potential replacement for Costa Rican keeper Keylor Navas. Navas has been one of Madrid’s best performers this season, but under fire manager, Zidane is now looking at new options for the aging 31-year-old.
Although the La Liga champions were interested in bringing in Manchester United’s David De Gea or Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtois as their prime targets, it is highly unlikely that the English giants will allow their prized assets to leave their respective clubs without putting in a huge fight. Therefore Madrid has lined up Alisson as the next big thing to land at the Santiago Bernabeu in the summer transfer window.
It is still not certain which club has the advantage in completing this deal, though it will sure be an interesting saga now, with the two clubs eager to fortify their squads.
