Liverpool plan fresh attempt to sign Roma goalkeeper Alisson after Loris Karius is cruelly exposed in Kiev

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Image result for Liverpool plan fresh attempt to sign Roma goalkeeper Alisson after Loris Karius is cruelly exposed in Kiev



Liverpool will make another attempt to sign Roma goalkeeper Alisson Becker after the flaws in Jurgen Klopp’s side were calamitously exposed in the Champions League final.


Loris Karius inevitably received severe criticism after two unfathomable errors gifted Karim Benzema the opening goal, and Gareth Bale a late third in Real Madrid’s 3-1 win.

Klopp was already considering a new goalkeeper before Saturday’s poor performance from his number one. Tentative inquiries for Brazilian international Alisson were rebuffed earlier this season – a price tag over £60 million was over Liverpool’s valuation - so Klopp took the decision to publicly back Karius for the second half of the campaign. 

Now there will be sympathy for the 24-year-old on a human level – in the social media age it is more important than ever for players to have a support network – but professionally, Liverpool know a decision must be made. Such basic mistakes are unacceptable at the highest level, and Karius’ seniority was already under scrutiny.

Just like Jerzy Dudek, the hero in Istanbul in 2005, and Sander Westerveld, a 2001 UEFA Cup winner, a European final may now prove to be the catalyst for change in goal at Anfield.Image result for Liverpool plan fresh attempt to sign Roma goalkeeper Alisson after Loris Karius is cruelly exposed in Kiev



The complication is Klopp’s reluctance to broaden his search beyond the preferred option.
Before the final, Klopp felt Alisson was the only keeper worth pursuing, and if he could not sign him he was ready to be patient rather than squander millions.

 It was the same approach last summer when he only wanted Virgil Van Dijk rather than work through a list of alternative centre-backs.

There are further echoes of the Van Dijk case in that Roma, like Southampton, feel they have been previously stung by Liverpool in the transfer market having sold Mohamed Salah for just £39 million last summer.

Their Director of Football, Monchi, will be wary of selling to Liverpool. As ever, much will depend on whether the players wants the move, and Roma also have well-documented financial issues forcing recent sales.

When Liverpool try again it will be a tough negotiation.
If the Italian club is immovable, Klopp has a dilemma. 

He already needs a keeper because Simon Mignolet is expected to leave having been replaced by Karius.

Klopp must decide if his young keeper can be successfully rehabilitated and win back trust, otherwise he will have no choice but to compromise and reassess the expensive alternatives to Alisson . 

That would be shift from the Liverpool manager, who has shown throughout his career how he prefers to stand by his players, even more so at their lowest ebb. This is his nature as a coach.

 

"It's even worse as we all felt that we could have beaten Real Madrid and we were in the game for a long time.

"Thank you to our unbelievable fans who came to Kiev and held my back, even after the game.
"I don't take that for granted and once again it showed me what a big family we are.
"Thank you and we will come back stronger."

Teammates rallied around Karius, as did goalkeeper coach John Achterberg who revealed the hurt of the young keeper. Karius’ parents were among those inside the Olympic Stadium watching him suffer.

“Obviously it is not good what happened,” said Achterberg.
“It was unlucky for him it happened in this game. I just tried to pick his head up and show you have to carry on with it. It is hard to take but that is life in football.”

Klopp knows Liverpool were not beaten by Karius’ mistakes alone. The blemishes Liverpool took into the game were magnified against a crack unit winning a third consecutive final.

Injuries in the final weeks of the season, most notably to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Emre Can, left Liverpool’s squad thin. There was no adequate replacement for the stricken Mohamed Salah, Adam Lallana willing but visibly short of match fitness.

The gulf in the performance level with and without Salah was troubling. The arrival of Naby Keita from RB Leipzig will help, and Liverpool will step their efforts to sign Lyon’s Nabil Fekir in the coming days, hoping to strike a £60 million deal before the World Cup. Klopp wants an additional number six to directly replace Juventus-bound Emre Can. 

For Liverpool’s players there is only the hollow sense of another final passing them by.
“It is the worst feeling I have had in football,” said captain Jordan Henderson.

“It will hurt for a while but you have to move on in football. We did fantastically well to get here and now we need to keep growing as a team to be successful in future. 

“I believe we will be in more finals. I believe we will be challenging in all competitions domestically. We need to do it sooner rather than later.”

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