David James
Ex-Liverpool shot-stopper David James says that Alisson Becker is not the best goalkeeper in the world at the current moment – but has compared him to Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo. He also added that as well as the Brazilian’s quality between the sticks, there is something else that Liverpool fans can look forward to in the coming years.
David James said “The season before last, Alisson Becker was the best goalkeeper that I was seeing anywhere – I have to say Europe, because I don’t know what’s happening in all the leagues around the world. I can loosely say the best in the world and Alisson was the best. But last season there was a lot of injury issues. When Alisson came in, it was clean sheet after clean sheet and he proved his value. After COVID-19, he wasn’t at his best but all Liverpool needed to do was win the league and they did that. Manuel Neuer on the other hand, has been faultless – in the Champions League final, there was two saves that he made that kept a clean sheet. [In the UEFA Super Cup against Sevilla] the save against Nasri was top-drawer and he is at the moment, as we speak, the top-performing goalkeeper in the world at the moment. I think that Alisson is better than Neuer over a longer period of time and he will once again be the best – I love everything about him and he seems unflappable. I think back to when he first signed for the club and he did that drag back against Leicester that resulted in a goal. For weeks, if not months, people were talking about him being a dodgy goalkeeper and I thought back to my time at Liverpool – one incident, is this going to scar him? But he never seemed fazed by it and he continued doing what he does very well which is keeping clean sheets. I met him at Melwood and Michael Edwards introduced me to him – he’s so young! The idea of peak being attributed to age is a misnomer because you could peak at 15 – there’s nothing saying you are going to be better at 16 or 26. In the end it’s about biology and whether you are capable of going further and faster and higher but with Alisson, you are looking at a keeper who everything he does is so good. He might be a bit Cristiano Ronaldo-esque in the sense that he doesn’t have to do something exceptional to still be at the highest level.”
