Rewind 12 months ago and Liverpool supporters were still wondering what might have been had they had a world-class goalkeeper between the posts for their Champions League final defeat.
But despite Loris Karius’ match-deciding blunders in the loss to Real Madrid, it appeared the German would be given another chance to rebuild his confidence by his compatriot Jurgen Klopp.
However, it soon became clear, once the pre-season friendlies started, that Karius’ confidence was shot, and for a short time last summer Danny Ward was being primed for the Reds’ number one spot.
That all changed when Alisson Becker, Klopp’s long-term keeper target, became available at a price Liverpool were willing to pay Roma.
Alisson had shipped in six goals in two incredible matches of football as the rampant Reds beat Roma 7-6 on aggregate to set up the showdown with Madrid in Kiev.
But the Brazilian did little wrong in either leg and by that stage his quality was beyond doubt.
That’s why Klopp had no hesitation in shelling out £65m – a then-world record fee for a goalkeeper – on Alisson in July of last year.
Fast-forward 12 months and Liverpool are champions of Europe for the sixth time after beating Tottenham Hotspur in this year’s Champions League final – and a serious force domestically after pushing Manchester City desperately close in the Premier League title race.
Alisson, who kept a clean sheet as hosts Brazil kicked off their Copa America campaign with a 3-0 win over Bolivia on Saturday, has played a major part in that.
But the man who tipped the 26-year-old to be a huge success at Anfield believes his worth is truly underlined by what has happened to the club the shot-stopper left behind.
Roma, under Eusebio di Francesco, had surprised and thrilled the continent on their way to last year’s Champions League semi-finals.
But they were unable to repeat their heroics this season and they will not even play in Europe’s premier club competition next season after finishing a disappointing sixth.
Di Francesco was sacked in March, and soon followed out of the door by sporting director Ramon Monchi, and while Leicester City’s Premier League title-winning boss Claudio Ranieri took charge until the end of the campaign, the Stadio Olimpico reins have now been handed to one-time Everton managerial target Daniel Fonseca.
And John Solano, who is the editor of the romapress.net website, believes the ‘chaos’ that has engulfed Roma in the past year has a lot to do with the departure of Alisson.
“After having watching them be potentially one goal away from the Champions League final, naturally you would have assumed Roma would have built on that success, but my goodness, I don’t think it could have gone any worse,” said Solano, who was speaking on our latest Liverpool FC podcast on the Blood Red channel.
“A lot of people will look for an alibi to explain what went wrong this season, a lot of people will blame the manager Eusebio di Francesco, a lot of people will blame the sporting director Ramon Monchi, but for me it was a mixture of things.
“They lost Alisson and replaced him with Swedish national goalkeeper Robin Olsen who was nothing short of a nightmare. He was absolutely terrible. In terms of the whole of Serie A, I can’t think of a gulf in quality between an outgoing player and an incoming player. The difference was absolutely dramatic.
“When we initially spoke about Alisson, I think I said he got Roma on his own 10 or 11 points, and only half of those this season would have got Roma in the Champions League, so it just shows you how much a world-class goalkeeper can do for you.
“He really did make up for Roma’s flaws in other areas that Olsen just wasn’t able to do. You add that to the individual errors Olsen had, and it was just an absolute nightmare, and Roma have forced themselves into this position where they are going to have to spend big on a goalkeeper this summer.”
Liverpool will not have to do that for many years to come given the way Alisson has swiftly established him.
Solano told the ECHO in July of last year that Alisson would take the Reds’ ‘toe to toe with Manchester City at the top of the strongest teams in the country’ – which certainly proved true.
“He’s definitely lived up to the price tag and Roma’s loss was Liverpool’s gain,” said Solano.
“I did have the opportunity to watch him play quite a bit and he really seemed to grow, as I initially thought. I thought he would need some time to adapt to a different league and different style, which is obviously a bit more physical, but we saw the similar game from him, in my opinion, that we saw in Serie A for Roma.
“And as I said about a year ago, I thought he was in the top five goalkeepers in the world after only one full season at Roma, and I really do think he fulfilled that at Liverpool, helping lead them to the Champions League.
“I think he’s been brilliant and I think he’s one of the two best goalkeepers in the world. I’m happy for him. He’s a nice guy, he deserves it and I’m happy to see him doing well outside of Roma.”
