Alisson might be Liverpool’s greatest-ever goalkeeper – but Reds’ decision to plan for life without injury-prone Brazilian is being proven right

Liverpool announced on Monday that Jarell Quansah had signed a new, long-term contract with the club. It was just reward for an academy product who has been excellent since breaking into the senior squad at the start of last season at a time when former manager Jurgen Klopp was short on numbers in the centre of defence.

However, while the 21-year-old Quansah – who has been at Liverpool since he was five – is a popular player among the fans, it was hardly the renewal news they’d been patiently awaiting. With Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold all out of contract at the end of the season, Reds are presently desperate for even a sign that any one of that key trio are close to committing their future to the club.

Until their respective situations are resolved, Liverpool’s owners, the Fenway Sports Group (FSG), and the recruitment strategy being employed by the likes of CEO of football Michael Edwards and sporting director Richard Hughes, will remain under intense scrutiny.

However, while the fan focus right now is understandably on Van Dijk, Salah and Alexander-Arnold, it’s already become clear that the transfer team made a couple of very astute decisions during the summer transfer window…

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  Surprising summer signings

  Liverpool announced just two transfers during the summer – neither of which was expected.

  The £10 million ($13m) signing of Euro 2020 star Federico Chiesa from Juventus was a ridiculously low-risk gamble too good to pass up – even accounting for the Italian’s injury issues. Liverpool were hardly stuck for options out wide but it did, at least, feel like the kind of “opportunistic” signing Hughes had mentioned shortly after his arrival from Bournemouth at the end of last season.

  The £25m ($33m) acquisition of Giorgio Mamardashvili from Valencia raised far more eyebrows, though.

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    Why a goalkeeper?

    Mamardashvili had been outstanding at Euro 2024, playing a pivotal role in Georgia’s surprise run to the last 16, but in Alisson Becker and Caoimhin Kelleher, Liverpool were arguably already in possession of the world’s best No.1 and the world’s best No.2, respectively.

    It didn’t feel like signing a shot-stopper should have been a priority for Hughes & Co. – particularly at a time when Liverpool supporters were still coming to terms with the fact that the club had once again failed to sign either a specialist No.6 or a left-sided centre-back.

    Then there was the fact that Mamardashvili wouldn’t even be arriving on Merseyside until next summer, which effectively meant keeping Kelleher at Anfield against his will for another season.

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    Kept against his will

    Kelleher, who has served Liverpool so well as Alisson’s understudy and become something of a Carabao Cup legend, was understandably disgusted that the Reds rejected all offers for his services during the summer while at the same time effectively confirming that he will not become the club’s next first-choice goalkeeper.

    “I made it clear in the last few years, I want to go be a No.1 and play week in, week out,” Kelleher told reporters in Dublin in September. “The club made the decision to get another goalkeeper. From the outside looking in, it looks like they have made a decision to go in another direction.

    “My ambition has always been clear. My mission was to go out and play. But, at times, it is not always in my hands.”

    However, if Liverpool’s treatment of Kelleher has been questionable at best, it’s already clear that they’ve done right by themselves here.

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    Reliable in every sense

    Once Liverpool decided that Kelleher wasn’t good enough to be Alisson’s long-term successor, they needed to line up a top young goalkeeper, while at the same time ensuring that they retained quality cover in between the posts. By holding onto Kelleher until Mamardashvili arrives, that’s precisely what they’ve done.

    The 24-year-old Mamardashvili has barely put a foot wrong since joining Valencia from Dinamo Tbilisi in 2021, establishing himself as one of the best shot-stoppers in La Liga, and something of a penalty-saving specialist. Perhaps even more significantly, though, he’s played all but one of Valencia’s Liga games since the start of the 2022-23 campaign, and even made a club-record 69 appearances in a row at one point.

    In that sense, the contrast with Alisson couldn’t be starker.

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    Increasing injury issues

    Arne Slot has only been in charge of Liverpool for seven Premier League games, but he’s already lost Alisson to injury twice, with the Brazilian having suffered a recurrence of the hamstring problem that ruled him out of last month’s win over Bournemouth (as well as the subsequent Carabao Cup clash with West Ham) in the closing stages of Saturday’s 1-0 victory at Crystal Palace.

    Liverpool are lucky in the sense that the injury occurred just before the international break, but Slot doesn’t expect Alisson to be back in time for the start of an incredibly difficult run of fixtures for his side, beginning with the home game against Chelsea on October 20.

    “It’s going to take a few weeks, I assume,” the Dutchman told reporters. “The positive thing for the team, not only in the goalkeeper position but also in almost every position, is that we also have a second option that’s really good. But Alisson is our clear No.1 and is the best goalkeeper in the world. So, it’s always a blow when he gets injured.”

    And yet one Liverpool have grown accustomed to dealing with over the past few seasons.

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    Impressive show of foresight

    Alisson has suffered three hamstring problems in 2024 alone, which explains why Liverpool felt compelled to make a move for Mamardashvili during the summer.

    The Brazil international is arguably the finest goalkeeper Liverpool have ever had, and he remains incredibly influential because of both his heroics with his hands and his fantastic footwork. He has been utterly integral to Liverpool’s excellent defensive record so far this season, keeping clean sheets in five of his eight outings.

    Goalkeepers also usually enjoy far more time at the top than outfield players because it’s not a position that places quite as much stress on the body, and the hope remains that Alisson will quickly get back to full fitness. However, the 32-year-old’s injury record had clearly become a cause for concern at Anfield before the summer window had even opened, which is hardly surprising either. Kelleher was called upon 26 times in all competitions last season – a staggering amount of game time for a second-choice goalkeeper.

    So, for all the justified negativity surrounding Liverpool allowing Van Dijk, Salah and Alexander-Arnold to enter the final year of their respective contracts, the Reds’ recruitment team have shown impressive foresight in effectively solving their Alisson dilemma before it had even become a major problem.

    Keeping Kelleher may have been cruel, but it was unquestionably the correct call for the club, while snapping up Mamardashvili a year in advance is already looking like the earliest of transfer market masterstrokes.