Alisson Becker of Liverpool acknowledges the fans after the Premier League victory at Ipswich Town. Judged on its own individual merits, Liverpool’s confirmation of goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili from Valencia on Monday evening is indicative of a club who are keen to future proof their goalkeeping department. The 23-year-old shot-stopper will stay with Valencia for the coming campaign ahead of a move to Anfield for the 25/26 campaign. A six-year contract has been signed on account of him remaining with Valencia and the Reds will pay an initial £25m with a further £4m in add-ons to make the Georgia star the second most expensive keeper of all time on Merseyside.
The man who still holds that title, of course, is Alisson Becker and while the move for Mamardashvili was admirable from the club’s perspective when it comes to thinking ahead for the long term under their new Michael Edwards-led regime, the wider context did lead to at least a few supporters casting nervous glances towards the general situation of their vaunted current goalkeeper. That is an understandable byproduct of such a move but it was interesting to note last week that Alisson himself essentially gave the move for Mamardashvili his blessing having been consulted by the decision makers at Anfield before the feelers were put out for the man who is now expected to be his replacement, whenever that day arrives.
Alisson said .”I think the club needs to prepare for the future, we are not going to last forever here, I am getting old! No, for a goalkeeper I am still young, I have a lot of energy and I still have much to give for this club and I want to give to the club as much as I can. But they have to prepare for the future. They have and they will do for different positions as well. We have so many important players with the contract expiring and the club needs to organise themselves for the future. I think it was a good idea, I knew about that (Mamardashvili) before it came out on social media and that is a good message for me because the club cares about what I think. But they are doing the right thing in my point of view, but, on my side, as long as I have my contract here and as long as I am happy here, the club is happy with me, my family is happy here, I will stay.”
The general view of Alisson around the AXA Training Centre is that they have the best goalkeeper in the world in the Brazil international and while there can be debates and arguments for other players within the squad in different positions, the belief that the former Roma keeper remains without an equal is firm. As a result of that opinion, as well the respect and admiration he commands, Alisson is given some gentle preferential treatment and the arrival of goalkeeping coach Claudio Taffarel, for example, was driven in part back in 2021, by the current No.1 enjoying such a good relationship with the 1994 World Cup winner.
Taffarel said in 2022: “I’ve known Alisson for many years; we started off at the same club, Internacional, and I have known him since he was a boy! Brazilian people, we always like to socialise together so it is good for us to have fellow Brazilians here, but it is also important to have friendships with people from here. It was a few years ago and John Actherberg (former head of goalkeeping) came to watch the Brazil team train in London. I think it was when Alisson was in Rome that he said to me: ‘If I have the possibility to bring you to my club with me, I will do it.’”
Alisson got his wish and it was also telling that former coach Actherberg revealed earlier this summer that the goalkeeper might have even considered his own future with the Reds had his compatriot been part of the number of coaches who left the club at the end of Jurgen Klopp’s time.
Actherberg said “In the end they were smart to keep at least Taffarel because if they would also change Taffarel they probably told Ali to find a new club basically because you have to be smart as well.”
Instead, Taffarel remains in situ as a vital sounding board for a goalkeeper whose opinion is often consulted when it comes to the big decisions within the department itself. And while the addition of Mamardashvili has brought Alisson’s own future into the spotlight, the man himself spoke music to the ears of the supporters last week when he hinted that a new contract might even be part of the plan at Anfield, despite honest admissions of interest from the Saudi Pro League and the eye-watering riches that accompany it.
Alisson said “I never thought about leaving, I had always decided to stay. I have two years plus one – the club’s choice – to stay here at Liverpool. So I will not leave now and I never thought about that. When the interest from Saudi came, I cannot close the door on a big deal. But my decision was always to stay and focus on the things we can achieve, this new beginning and this new start, and I am really excited about that. We are starting fresh with new energy and looking forward to what this season will bring for us. At the end of the day, you play football for love, it is the thing you like to do, but it is our profession and we want to use the years that we have to make the most of it. I think I am open to that (Saudi Arabia) personally but not now. Now is not the time. I am really focused on the things we have here at Liverpool and while I still have my contract here, I will be focused here. If it is in the interest of the club to negotiate me (to sell), then it will be a different conversation. At this time, at this window that we have, I am focused on my job here and my life in Liverpool.”
For a goalkeeper department in flux due to the arrivals of new coaches in Fabian Otte, Hans Leitert, as Fenway Sports Group’s head of global goalkeeping, the departure of long-serving Adrian and the ongoing speculation regarding Caoimhin Kelleher, Alisson’s presence at the top of it all is a reassuring one, particularly during a time of deep transition from within the club. Few in the fanbase or the club itself want to contemplate a world without Alisson Becker as Liverpool’s goalkeeper and while the impending arrival of Mamardashvili at least points towards the Reds getting their ducks in a row for such an eventuality, the Brazil star’s statement of intent last week has changed the perception of the first transfer of the summer for the positive.
