Alisson Apparently Open to Chelsea Move

As Juventus takes steps to bring in Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the greatest players of all time, Roma are (once again) preparing to sell one of their vital organs. No, we’re not talking about Eric Abidal, though that’s a crazy story, but rather Alisson Becker, the best player Roma has had come through her ranks since a young Daniele De Rossi broke through the first team 15 some odd years ago.

For weeks (if not months) now we’ve operated under the assumption that, yeah, Alisson likes Roma but he really likes Real Madrid. So while he was perfectly happy to remain at the Stadio Olimpico, if an offer from the Galacticos came along he was probably gone. While it would be tough to see him go, you can only begrudge a player for moving to Madrid so much; they’re the biggest team on the planet after all.

With visions of Alisson firing outlet passes to Isco or Gareth Bale dancing through our heads, we were slowly resigning ourselves to the fact that he was gone, while at the same time finding solace in the fact that it took the will of the most famous team on the planet to pry him away.

Yeah, about that...

Multiple reports, spurred on by Il Tempo, indicate that Alisson is not only tempted by a move to London but has agreed to personal terms with Chelsea. Speculation has it that Chelsea will meet (or at least come excruciatingly close) to Roma’s €75 million asking price, while giving Alisson €5 million a year (net) for five years.

As we’ve been discussing throughout the summer, Alisson’s future is closely entwined with current Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois, who is rumored with a move to Madrid where he’d be closer to his children. So while Alisson has reportedly agreed to personal terms with Chelsea, they first have to settle the future of their own star keeper.

Stay tuned, with both Courtois and Becker busy at the World Cup, and Real busy with their impending Ronaldo sale, don’t expect a resolution to this for another couple weeks.

But Alisson is gone, the sooner you get used to that fact the easier the transition will be. His €75 million fee would obliterate the world record fee for a keeper and would potentially fund Roma’s next moves, presumably Alphonse Areola and one of Hakim Ziyech, Mateo Kovacic or even Benjamin Pavard.