How Alisson Becker could make Liverpool the top title contenders for EPL

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Allison Becker, the Brazilian goalkeeper who is now officially, the world’s costliest keeper as Liverpool has announced him their new player after they agreed to pay 67 million Euros for the Roma shot-stopper who has marked his place in the list of best players of this generation. So, here we present everything you need to know about the new goalkeeping sensation.

Alisson was born on October 2, 1992, in Novo Hamburgo, Brazil. The 6 feet 3-inch tall goalkeeper started his top-level career with S.C Internacional on January 1, 2013. He was then signed by AS Roma in the summer transfer window of 2016 for a fee around 8 million Euros. He came under the radar of many top European clubs including Real Madrid and Juventus after his exceptional performances in the UEFA Champions League 17-18 and also Serie A.

Some of the strengths of the Brazilian shot-stopper are his reflexes which are very quick, his concentration power throughout the game, his ball distribution abilities are said to be the strongest at the moment as David De Gea lacks in this aspect. Alisson is a strong blockage opposing the long shots being fired from distance. Another speciality of Becker is his ability to save close range shots and penalties. On an average, he saves 2/5 of the penalties faced by him.

A.S. Roma v Liverpool - UEFA Champions League Semi Final Second Leg

In terms of national level football, Alisson was able to outperform Manchester City’s goalkeeper Ederson and hence was chosen as the first goalkeeper of the Brazilian team by coach Tite. Becker kept 22 clean sheets for Roma in the 49 appearances he made in the 2017-18 season. He was also the league’s best keeper in terms of clean sheets as he managed to keep 17 clean sheets in Serie A 2017-18. He could well be called a veteran in terms of 1-on-1 situations as he is very very proficient while judging when and where to make the attempt to grab the ball from the striker’s feet or when to make a block for a shot fired towards the goal.

His brilliant statistics are enough to ensure his title of being ‘The Next Big Thing’. With a save ratio of 80.1% in Europe, he’s only behind Atletico’s shot-stopper, Jan Oblak. His height and jumping abilities help him to claim 90% of the balls delivered from free kick’s and corners. These are some notable stats from the 17-18 season. His passing accuracy is more than any other EPL goalkeeper. Going through the stats and figures as on understat.com, It is expected that he's going to take over the European GK's in style.

Liverpool had a great season offensively as Salah, Firminho and Mane were all firing cylinders and scoring tons of goals but as always, their defence was letting them down. They tried to solve the problem in defence by the inclusion of Van Dijk and now Alisson. Karius did a good job in the first half of the season but could not sustain his form for the remainder of the season and made two huge blunders against Real Madrid which cost them the UCL final. Fans were expecting a more suitable goalkeeper which the club found in Becker.

Alisson Becker is more like a leader from the back. He knows how to organise the defence against the dead balls and constantly keeps alerting the back line of the team for the upcoming troubles. His ball distribution ability would help the Liverpool build up to start from the goalkeeper himself. He can deliver long balls with pinpoint accuracy which would play a big role in Liverpool's counter-attacks. His exceptional ball claiming rate for the dead balls would make it almost impossible for the opponents to score from a free kick or corner kick against Liverpool.

His other abilities to stop the balls from close range, long ranges and one on one situations would play a major role in Liverpool's season and his offensive abilities would give a further push to the Liverpool's attack and build up. Moreover, Liverpool is spending a huge amount on a goalkeeper as he would surely satisfy their needs and if they're able to clinch the EPL title next season, the price tag for the ex-Roma goalkeeper wouldn't look huge anymore. A goalkeeper of his calibre would change any game on his day and surely a brilliant addition for Merseyside.

The addition of Virgil Van Dijk in the Liverpool squad made them a better team defensively and Lovren’s recent world cup performances were brilliant too. So, the Liverpool defence with Van Dijk and Lovren who recently claimed that “I should be in the list of world’s best defenders”, along with Alisson would make a very difficult defence to break. Alisson's inclusion in the squad would provide strength to the defence of Liverpool who’ll look to give a tough competition for the EPL title under manager Klopp. With the inclusion of Shaqiri, Fabinho, Keita and Alisson Becker, Liverpool looks set to finally add some silverware to their trophy cabinet.

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Edited by Amar Anand