You do get what you pay for, it would seem. Anyone who has observed Jürgen Klopp and the Liverpool recruitment team’s phenomenal transfer record in recent years will have known that the then-record £56m paid by the Reds paid to prise goalkeeper Alisson Becker away from Roma in the summer was a significant statement of belief.
Despite having played only a single season of top flight European football before moving to Anfield, the talent dubbed the “Messi of ‘Keepers” was a player marked to one day be counted among the very best in the game.
They just wouldn’t have guessed that would be this soon.
In Goal.com’s annual ranking of the best 50 players in the world, the goalkeeping phenom known as O Gato in his native homeland of Brazil has been dubbed the best in the game, beating out the likes of Atletico Madrid’s Jan Oblak, Man United’s David De Gea and Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois.
After supplanting both Wojciech Szczesny at the club level with Roma and Manchester City keeper Ederson for the Brazilian national team between the sticks last season, the 26-year-old together a stellar campaign that saw him star for club and country.
17 clean sheets in the Serie A over the course of the 2017-18 season, in addition to going 323 minutes without conceding in the World Cup in Russia and shutting out all comers at home in the Champions League prior to the semifinal 4-2 win over Liverpool, earned him plaudits throughout the footballing world.
Klopp was apparently one of those won over, with the Reds fending off interest from the likes of Real Madrid to bring the Brazilian to Merseyside. While there has been an adjustment period to life in the rough-and-tumble Premier League—one goal in particular conceded against Leicester City comes to mind—Alisson’s quality has been evident, assuring that the gloves are in secure hands at Anfield for the first time in years.