Earlier than Alisson joined Liverpool in 2018, the membership was in a continuing seek for an elite goalkeeper, with coach John Achterberg recommending three future stars.
In Alisson, the Reds lastly have a world-class goalkeeper who is ready to remain at Anfield for the remainder of his prime, having signed a brand new six-year contract in August.
Earlier than then, the membership struggled to discover a top-level choice following the decline of Pepe Reina, with each Simon Mignolet and Loris Karius failing to fill the void convincingly.
It was one other ex-Liverpool ‘keeper, Doni, who alerted Achterberg to Alisson‘s progress at Internacional, however the goalkeeping coach had lengthy been on the hunt for a long-term No. 1.
Chatting with The Redmen TV, the Dutchman revealed that he had beneficial Manuel Neuer, Samir Handanovic and Marc-Andre ter Stegen to the membership earlier than their respective strikes to Bayern Munich, Inter Milan and Barcelona.
“[In 2011,] I mentioned [to director of football Damien Comolli], ‘I did see two actually good goalies I like’,” Achterberg defined.
“One was Neuer – he was with Schalke then – and the opposite one was Handanovic.
“So he mentioned ‘Neuer goes to Bayern, that’s already completed’, however clearly I didn’t have this info once I advised him.
“Handanovic was at Udinese, however clearly Comolli didn’t do a lot with my suggestion after which he received offered to Inter Milan, so yeah, that’s the way it works generally.”
Ter Stegen joined Barcelona from Borussia Monchengladbach in 2014, a 12 months after Mignolet arrived at Anfield from Sunderland, with Achterberg’s phrases on the German suggesting he was one of many options.
“I beneficial Ter Stegen when Brendan [Rodgers] was right here. He was at Gladbach and I advised Brendan about him,” he continued.
“So just a few weeks later Brendan got here to me and mentioned: ‘I received a name off Chris Hughton and he says this goalie taking part in for Gladbach is an efficient goalie’.
“So I mentioned ‘yeah, that’s what I attempted to say to you!’. However then, after all, he goes to Barca.”
It’s, after all, educational now, contemplating Liverpool have acquired a goalkeeper arguably working at the next stage than any of the three Achterberg had identified previously.
Nevertheless it demonstrates the inner wrestle at instances through the years when it got here to recruitment, significantly with Comolli’s stint as director of soccer and Rodgers’ time as supervisor.