Liverpool play Manchester City in an early hours friendly tomorrow but Ralph Ellis says Jurgen Klopp has already made a key move to close the gap.
“Liverpool’s summer spending has brought them in to [5.5] to finally end their wait to win a Premier League title and that looks decent value. Of all the clubs looking to overhaul Manchester City, they have got their incoming transfers done and dealt with earliest and best.”
As a boxer, Everton fan Tony Bellew is used to the idea of trash talk, so good luck to him for stirring up a bit of Merseyside banter about Liverpool’s new goalkeeper.
Asked in a radio interview about the arrival at Anfield for a world record fee of Brazilian Alisson Becker, Bellew said: “They have paid £66.8million and have only got the second best keeper on Merseyside.”
And yes, you can see his point. Jordan Pickford enhanced his reputation with his heroics for England during the World Cup every bit as much as Alisson did for Brazil.
But the difference is that the former Roma keeper, expected to make his Reds debut in a friendly against Napoli in Ireland on August 4th, is joining a team already close to winning something and might just be the man to make the difference.
It’s a sign of Klopp’s progress that even without his world record keeper, Liverpool are odds-on to win a friendly against champions Manchester City in the early hours tomorrow. But long-term it’s the piece of recruitment which will count most.
It was Brian Clough who famously justified the then world record signing of Peter Shilton by saying he would be worth a dozen extra points a season.
Goalkeeping was a weakness lasts season
Jurgen Klopp hasn’t put any of that sort of pressure on his new boy, but he won’t need reminding, and neither will anybody else at Anfield, of the importance of a good goalkeeper to spread confidence throughout a team.
Liverpool’s summer spending has brought them in to [5.5] to finally end their wait to win a Premier League title and that looks decent value. Of all the clubs looking to overhaul Manchester City, they have got their incoming transfers done and dealt with earliest and best.
Naby Keita and Fabinho bring undoubted quality to a squad that took 34 points from 17 Premier League games in 2018 while juggling the demands of a run to the Champions League final. And who knows, Klopp might just be the man to get some consistency from the enigmatic Xherdan Shaqiri.
But it is the signing of 25-year-old Alisson that will make the biggest impact in a position that was too often a weakness last year whether it was Loris Karius or Simon Mignolet wearing the jersey.
The young Brazilian ticks just about every box. As a boy coming through the youth teams at Internacional in Porto Alegre it was his character as much as his ability which stamped him out as a star of the future.
“The Messi of goalkeepers”
He captained most of the club’s youth teams, and by the time he got into the senior side was wearing the armband again aged just 21.
In Italy, Roma’s former goalkeeping coach Roberto Negrisolo described him as “the Messi of goalkeepers” as he further enhanced his reputation.
And as he proved in the World Cup, he’s as comfortable with the ball at his feet starting off play as he is making dramatic saves.
All those things suggest he’ll have the character to hit the ground running when Liverpool begin their Premier League campaign against West Ham at Anfield on Sunday August 12.
That’s crucial because we’ve seen so many overseas goalkeepers need time to adapt to the physical demands of English football, and if Liverpool are going to close the gap on City they can’t afford time for the new boy to settle in.
I’m not sure I’d be brave enough to argue with Bellew over which of the Merseyside heavyweights has the best goalkeeper. But I know which is likely to be more influential at the top of the table.
Source: Betfair Premier League
