In a shocking turn of events, Liverpool’s number 1, Alisson Becker, could be headed to Saudi Arabia in the summer.
Alisson signed for the Reds in 2018 from Italian Serie A club AS Roma and has since morphed into one of the world’s best goalkeepers. Many Premier League fans and pundits already consider him one of the best to ever keep goal in the English top flight after he played very pivotal roles in Liverpool’s resurgence.
He is currently on holiday with his family and preparing for pre-season after Brazil got knocked out of the ongoing Copa America in the USA by Uruguay. Liverpool fans are looking forward to seeing him again but the recent news will come as a surprise to them.
Alisson, 31, signed a contract extension at Liverpool after speaking to representatives from the Saudi Petroleum Investment Fund, who own the four biggest clubs in the Saudi Pro League. They seemingly had a gentleman’s agreement to revisit the discussion and this summer is the time for those talks to happen.
The Brazil number 1 has already won the Premier League, the FA Cup, the EFL (Carabao) Cup, the UEFA Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup with Liverpool. He is also a runner-up in the Champions League, which means that there is little left for him to achieve in England. A move to Saudi Arabia will present him with a more financially rewarding challenge as he enters the last phase of his career.
The team chasing Alisson is reportedly Al Nassr, where Cristiano Ronaldo and his former Liverpool teammate Sadio Mané currently ply their trade. They finished in second place last season, 14 points behind winners Al Hilal, where his compatriot Neymar plays. They want to strengthen their squad significantly to be able to take the title away from Al Hilal and Alisson is seen as the number one priority for them.
He currently has three years left on his current contract, which means that the offer from Al Nassr could be enough to turn the club’s head, especially with a new manager and a new era waiting to happen. Should he leave, only Virgil Van Dijk and Mohamed Salah will be left from the core of Jürgen Klopp’s era.
Meanwhile, Thiago Alcantara could return to football less than 24 hours after his retirement as an active player.
After leaving Liverpool at the end fo the season, the former Spain international midfielder was offered an assistant role at Barcelone, the club where he started his senior career, by Hansi Flick.
Both men know each other from Bayern Munich. Thiago was a key part of the team that won the sextuple when Hansi Flick was the coach. Now, they both could work together again to bring his boyhood club back from the edge and into greatness again.
