What the outside world didn’t know was a game of chess was being played behind the scenes between Liverpool and Roma over a certain Brazilian goalkeeper.
Having seen Alisson Becker up close in the previous season’s Champions League semi-final against Roma and despite conceding seven goals over two legs the Liverpool hierarchy were impressed with what they saw.
Yet it was a rollercoaster pursuit of the ex-Internacional keeper as Liverpool were not the only suitors. Chelsea were looking for a potential replacement for Thibaut Courtois while Real Madrid sniffing around for a new Galactico to join their ranks.
Chelsea were in pole position to acquire Alisson while Liverpool were ready to go into the season with back up keeper Danny Ward as Klopp’s number one.
However, the club holding its nerve proved vital.
Surprisingly Chelsea took a U-turn in trying to convince Courtois to stay which sparked Liverpool’s £65 million move, which was £25 million less than Roma’s original asking price, as Merseyside was Alisson’s preferred destination.
Courtois eventually moving to Madrid forced Chelsea into panic buying a replacement for the new season which lead to activating the £71 million release clause of Athletic Bilbao’s Kepa Arrizabalaga, a young promising goalkeeper.
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In a alternative reality it could of been Liverpool gambling a hefty amount of money on a unproven keeper instead of Chelsea. As it turned out Jurgen Klopp patience paid off big time as the signing that had to work has excelled. Not only has Alisson made his mark, he has become one of the most feared keepers for Premier League strikers to face. As much praise as Liverpool have had in putting together a back line that can boast having the best defensive record in the league there has been rotation within it. Van Dijk has been the pillar but throughout the last two season the best has been seen from Joe Gomez, Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip. Injuries has forced Klopp to rely on one of Van Dijk’s centre back partners for a period where they may have been thrown in cold. But they had the security of the man in the nets behind him that injects trust and confidence into them that even mistakes putting opposition into scoring positions means they must beat the keeper who rarely gives forwards hope.
In his first season at the club Alisson won the golden glove in both the Premier League and the Champions League as well as producing the memorable save against Napoli that was fundamental to Liverpool winning an international treble.
In comparison Kepa has been the PR disaster for Chelsea as his on field spat with previous manager Maurizio Sarri as well as inconsistent performances on the pitch has led to being dropped by his current manager Frank Lampard.
With both coming with, at the time, world record transfer fees they have endured contrasting influences on their respective clubs.
Alisson has injected a calmness for Liverpool’s back four which was already resolute enough with the towering Virgil Van Dijk in front of them.
This has all contributed to the Brazilian being the keeper with the best defence in the last two season with conceding only 19 goals last season, one less than this season’s total of 20 what includes only Wolverhampton Wanderers scoring past Alisson between December 7th and 15th February.
Putting that into the perspective Kepa is conceding 1.28 goals every 90 mins which reflects a vulnerability in Chelsea’s backline that the Spanish international has not solved for the London club.
As the next transfer window approaches the fact Chelsea will be wondering what top keepers are available to fill a position that with more persistence could have passed the issue onto Liverpool.
Every Kopite would have hugged Michael Edwards in the same way Alisson embraced the Champions League trophy into his arms for the execution in fixing Liverpool’s number one problem by outwitting Roman Abramovich at his own game of bringing in the best.
Article by Jake Clay – @JakeClay17
