Klub raksasa Italia Juventus dilaporkan sedang menekan Liverpool untuk segera melepas penjaga gawang utama mereka, Alisson Becker, menjelang bergulirnya Piala Dunia 2026.
Dilansir dari Tuttosport, Juventus terburu-buru untuk mengetahui rencana transfer Liverpool karena pihak klub dan Alisson mengharapkan jawaban dari Anfield sebelum turnamen akbar tersebut dimulai. Meski Juventus tidak bermain di Liga Champions musim depan, Alisson dikabarkan bersemangat untuk bersatu kembali dengan pelatih Luciano Spalletti di Turin. Juventus bahkan sudah mengajukan penawaran awal yang berada di bawah permintaan The Reds, tetapi tetap bertekad melanjutkan negosiasi karena sang pemain ingin pindah ke Stadion Allianz.
Di sisi lain, jurnalis Lewis Steele melalui Anfield Index memberikan perkembangan terbaru bahwa Liverpool saat ini cukup percaya diri untuk mempertahankan kiper asal Brasil tersebut. Alisson sendiri baru saja memicu perpanjangan kontrak satu tahun sekitar dua bulan lalu, yang membuatnya terikat di Anfield hingga akhir musim depan.
"I think as it stands, people are planning for him to stay." kata Lewis Steele, jurnalis sepak bola.
Steele menambahkan bahwa situasi ini masih bisa berubah karena bursa transfer musim panas baru memasuki bulan Mei dan menyisakan waktu tiga bulan. Namun, kehilangan Alisson bersamaan dengan kepergian Andrew Robertson dan Mohamed Salah dinilai akan meninggalkan kekosongan kepemimpinan yang sangat besar di dalam skuad asuhan Arne Slot.
"the caveat that we’re only in May and there’s still three months left of the window" tambah Lewis Steele.
Meskipun Alisson kerap melewatkan 10 hingga 20 pertandingan per musim akibat cedera, kontribusinya saat berada di lapangan dianggap sangat mendongkrak performa tim. Steele menyarankan agar manajemen Liverpool membujuk sang kiper untuk bertahan setahun lagi sebelum membiarkannya pergi.
"remains as important as ever to Liverpool" ujar Lewis Steele.
Keyakinan Steele bahwa Alisson akan bertahan juga diperkuat oleh gerak-tubuh sang pemain pada laga terakhir musim ini. Alisson terlihat menyentuh dadanya dan menarik logo klub saat pemanasan, serta tidak menunjukkan emosi berlebih yang menandakan sebuah perpisahan saat peluit panjang berbunyi.
"does miss 10 to 20 games a season" tutur Lewis Steele.
Jika Alisson pada akhirnya benar-benar hengkang, mantan penjaga gawang Liverpool, Brad Friedel, menilai bahwa mengganti posisi pemain berusia 33 tahun tersebut akan menjadi tugas yang sangat berat bagi global football.
"almost a risk worth taking for a player that elevates you so highly when he’s on the pitch" sebut Lewis Steele.
Friedel, yang berbicara secara eksklusif kepada GOAL, berpendapat bahwa kepergian Alisson bahkan bisa berdampak lebih besar bagi Arne Slot dibandingkan kehilangan Mohamed Salah. Hubungan Slot dan Salah dinilai kurang harmonis belakangan ini, sementara Alisson merupakan sosok tak tergantikan di lini pertahanan sejak didatangkan dari Roma pada 2018 dengan rekor 333 penampilan.
"If you had to put your money either way, I would probably put it on him to stay now." ungkap Lewis Steele.
Sebagai alternatif pengganti jika Liverpool terpaksa mencari kiper baru, Friedel memunculkan nama Emiliano "Dibu" Martinez dari Aston Villa. Menurutnya, Martinez memiliki karakter kompetitif, mentalitas juara, dan ketahanan terhadap kritik yang dibutuhkan untuk mengawal gawang di Anfield, mengungguli opsi lain seperti James Trafford.
"it’s a fluid situation and it could change" jelas Lewis Steele.
Bila Alisson memilih bertahan di Anfield untuk menghormati sisa kontraknya, Juventus dilaporkan bakal mengalihkan bidikan mereka ke beberapa alternatif lain, salah satunya adalah mantan kiper Manchester United yang kini membela Fiorentina, David De Gea.
"Robo and Salah leaving" kata Lewis Steele.
Hingga saat ini, manajemen Liverpool dikabarkan masih terus mengkaji opsi penjaga gawang mereka untuk musim 2026-2027, termasuk kemungkinan meminjamkan Giorgi Mamardashvili ke Juventus atau Inter Milan jika Alisson tetap bertahan.
"would leave a huge leadership void behind" ucap Lewis Steele.
"got a contract till the end of next season" cetus Lewis Steele.
"triggered the one year" pungkas Lewis Steele.
"Liverpool should be just saying to him, please just give us one more year and then we’ll let you go." kata Lewis Steele.
"the best situation for all parties" tukas Lewis Steele.
"what I took from it is that’s not a man that’s going," aku Lewis Steele.
"what does this mean" sebut Lewis Steele.
"knew in his heart of hearts that he was going," tambah Lewis Steele.
"more emotional and more animated" cetus Lewis Steele.
"From Arne Slot’s perspective, possibly, because I don’t think Arne Slot and Salah were seeing eye to eye. That was starting to become a little bit like oil and water. So maybe from that perspective. But what Salah’s done over the last decade has been truly remarkable, and he will be a huge loss. “Alisson would be one of the hardest goalkeepers to replace in global football if he were to go. I think it’d be very difficult for Liverpool to replace him. “I would hate to see him go, professionally speaking, and as a Liverpool supporter, I would be particularly devastated if he left because of how good he’s been for the club. He never brought the club into disrepute. Held his hand up if he made a mistake, which was not many mistakes. He is one of the best 1v1 goalkeepers that has ever played the game. “I think those types of goalkeepers, even as they decline in their age, even with maybe a couple of injuries, are still better than almost everyone in the world. I think that replacing him would be tough, really tough."" kata Brad Friedel, mantan kiper Liverpool.
"Possibly, but you need someone with a skin of leather, you need someone who’s going to be able to play in all the big matches. You need someone who expects to win the Champions League, not just play in it. Expects to win the Champions League, win the Premier League, win the FA Cup, and win the League Cup. It’s a different type of mentality that you need when you’re a goalkeeper at these top clubs. “And it’s not easy to find, you know, and Trafford’s a really good goalkeeper. I like him a lot, but that’s also a lot to load onto him. Maybe the likes of an Emi Martínez, someone like that, that can take all the games all the time, any criticism, any plaudits, and they know how to deal with it. There aren’t many out there that you can just pinpoint and say: ‘He’s our guy’. That’s a hard decision."" tutur Brad Friedel.
