Liverpool have shattered the world record transfer fee for a goalkeeper by completing the signing of Alisson from Roma for £65m.
The Brazil international signed a six-year contract with the Anfield club on Thursday evening shortly after passing a medical on Merseyside. The 25-year-old had interrupted a post-World Cup holiday in Sardinia to join Liverpool, his favoured destination, and will now resume his vacation as Jürgen Klopp’s player.
Liverpool are paying an initial £56m for Alisson plus £9m in add-ons. These include bonuses for Champions League qualification and winning the competition, the Premier League or Europa League. Alisson’s former club in Brazil, Internacional, will receive £2.2m of the initial £56m fee from Roma.
The player told his new club’s official website: “I’m really happy, it’s a dream come true to wear such a prestigious shirt for a club of this size that is used to always winning. In terms of my life and my career, it’s a huge step for me being part of this club and this family. You can be certain that I’ll give my all.”
Asked what had attracted him to Alisson, Klopp said: “There was a world-class goalkeeper on the market, and the club gave us the opportunity to sign him – simple as that. Of course, for a long time it’s been clear that Alisson is a top class goalkeeper, but there was never a real chance to do it. This year there was the chance.”
Klopp dismissed suggestions his new No 1 could be weighed down by the pressure of the fee.
“He’s a very calm person,” the manager added. “It’s not his price, it’s not the price we want to pay, it’s only the price the market demands. That’s how it is, no problem with that.
“The size of the story is only outside [the club]. We don’t think about that. We know what everyone will say about this, but it’s not really important. We have now another wonderful player in our squad and that’s the only thing we are looking for.
“We have everything we need for the next season, because I don’t think we will do anything more [in the market]. I’m pretty sure of that.”
Klopp told the official website: “We are really happy to have him here now. His English is surprisingly good and he is a real personality.
“We got him here because of his existing strengths, which is in all goalkeeper departments the highest level. But of course he still has to adapt and age-wise he can improve, the best years are coming in the goalkeeper life, so it’s all good.”
The fee for Alisson dwarfs the £34.7m that Manchester City paid for Ederson last summer and Juventus' £32.6m investment in Gianluigi Buffon in 2001.
Monchi, Roma's sporting director, described Liverpool's offer as "way above the market average" when defending the sale of a goalkeeper he claimed was the best in the world yesterday. Roma and Monchi were stung by the criticism that centred on selling Mohamed Salah to Liverpool for £36.9m last summer and determined to extract over €70m for Alisson. The Salah fee, and the fallout from it, were brought up in negotiations between the Italian club and Liverpool's sporting director, Michael Edwards.
The arrival of Alisson takes Liverpool’s spending in the summer transfer window to over £170m following the acquisitions of Naby Keita, Fabinho and Xherdan Shaqiri. He is expected to be Liverpool’s final signing before the transfer deadline with a proposed £53m deal for the Lyon captain, Nabil Fekir, unlikely to be revived.
Klopp decided to renew his efforts to sign Alisson amid continued concern over the form of Loris Karius and before Chelsea could move for the player in the event of Thibaut Courtois' departure for Real Madrid. Liverpool were quoted £90m by Roma for the goalkeeper in May and £75m in June, valuations that stalled their interest. But the Italians' willingness to negotiate again raised hopes that Klopp could secure his No 1 choice for the problematic goalkeeping position at Liverpool and the club moved swiftly to conclude a world-record deal. – Guardian service
