“There has to be a question mark against him.”
Alisson Becker made his debut for Liverpool on Saturday evening and he already looks to be an upgrade on the club’s goalkeepers from last season, Simon Mignolet and Loris Karius.
The Brazilian started Liverpool’s 5-0 victory against Napoli in Dublin, and although he was rarely tested, he appeared to have the full confidence of his teammates and fans in attendance – something neither of his predecessors had.
Alisson’s distribution was also very impressive, and he played a part in the opening goal of the night with a long pass to Mohamed Salah.
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When the time comes to make some saves, it looks like the world’s most expensive goalkeeper will be up to the task. According to Opta, only David de Gea (80.28%) and Jan Oblak (82.68%) had a better save percentage than Alisson (79.26%) in European football last season. In the Premier League, only De Gea saved a greater percentage of shots than the former Roma ‘keeper.
However, Graeme Souness isn’t fully convinced yet. The former Liverpool captain and manager still has some doubts about Alisson and has suggested that his experience at the top level of football is somewhat limited.
“A goalkeeper was clearly a priority and Liverpool have broken the world record for that position by signing Alisson from Roma for £67m,” Souness said in his column for The Sunday Times.
“He played in Brazil and Portugal, then was initially kept out of the Roma team by Wojciech Szczesny, who found English football difficult at Arsenal, so he’s not coming with 300-400 games at the highest level under his belt and, despite the fee, there has to be a question mark against him.”
Souness isn’t wrong about Alisson’s experience at the top level. The 25-year-old played 115 times for Internacional before his move to Roma in 2016 and has only played 64 games in European football.
Yet, Alisson is Brazil’s number one and has shown enough in his time in Europe to suggest he is one of the continent’s top ‘keepers. He’s certainly an improvement on Liverpool’s other goalkeepers.
Souness’ logic is also somewhat flawed. The Sky Sports pundit is suggesting that there are doubts about Alisson’s ability because Wojciech Szczesny kept him out of the Roma team for a season and Szczesny struggled at Arsenal.
However, Souness also said that if Alisson does well, and if Liverpool’s new signings in midfield “can handle our football”, then Jurgen Klopp’s side will push champions Manchester City close in the title race.
Liverpool get their Premier League campaign underway against West Ham next Sunday at Anfield.
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