Sky: Liverpool Engaged in €70M Talks for Alisson

Another day, another Alisson rumor. But that’s what happens during summer transfer season. What’s that you say? It’s only the third week of February!? No matter, we’re Roma fans, we can stomach another transfer rumor, right? For weeks (if not months) now we’ve been discussing the future of Alisson Becker, the best keeper in the game at the moment, who has drawn eyes from PSG, Real Madrid, Liverpool and probably even the Toronto Maple Leafs at this point.

Roma’s Merseyside colleagues have developed quite a taste for Giallorossi players recently, handing over €50 million for Mohamed Salah this summer, a price that has quickly become akin to a clearance rack special thanks to Salah’s remarkable run of form. And if you’re Liverpool and you’ve got the game’s hottest attacker, the next logical step is to counter that with the best shot stopper in the world, the Brazilian Don Draper.

While we’ve dealt with these rumors for several months now, they were just that, rumors. However, Sky Sports kicked things up a notch tonight, claiming Liverpool are already negotiating for a summer move. According to Sky, Liverpool have contacted Alisson and/or Roma via an intermediary, attempting to broach a transfer potentially worth €70 million, a figure that would almost double the word record Manchester City paid for Ederson last year—talk about a World Cup positional battle.

This is in some ways uncharted territory for Roma. Francesco Totti notwithstanding, Roma have never really had such a coveted player on their hands before, let alone one who could break a world record transfer fee (for their position). Combine that with the crazy fees bandied about for top players of any sort, and Roma may finally have leverage on their side.

However, it is precisely because Alisson is so good and so highly regarded that rumors like these scare the hell out of me. Just once...just once...it would be nice for Roma to be the envy of the rest of the footballing world. Alisson is only 26-years-old and hasn’t even played one full season in Europe, and he’s already this good. Credit to Federico Fazio and Kostas Manolas of course, but Alisson has been a pivotal figure in Roma’s stellar defensive record—Roma are outperforming their expected goals conceded by 50%, and as good as Lukasz Skorupski may be, that’s not something so easily replaced.

We’ve thrown the word ‘world beater’ around here before, and outside of Francesco Totti and peak Daniele De Rossi, Roma hasn’t really had one in the modern age. Alisson will soon be one, if he isn’t already.

So I hope and I pray Roma can resist those clarion calls.