Klopp: why I almost blocked Alisson signing

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Jurgen Klopp admits he almost opted against signing Alisson after witnessing the backlash towards Loris Karius following the Champions League final.

The German shot-stopper endured a miserable night in Kiev after making two costly mistakes to aid Real Madrid towards their third successive European crown.

Liverpool’s hopes of restoring his confidence during pre-season were soon crushed by an error against Tranmere, with the club subsequently stepping up its pursuit of a new shot-stopper.

 

Whilst the club had always prioritised signing a goalkeeper, there was seemingly a moment when Klopp considered making a monumental expression of his faith in Karius.

“The Champions League final had nothing to do with us getting Alisson,” he told German magazine Kicker.

“Even if he had won it and Alisson would have been on the market we would have still signed him.”

“And how the people reacted negatively to Karius after the final, by trying to isolate him, that almost made me not sign Alisson and rather stick it out with Karius. But we had to be professional, our job is to have the best players in every position.”

Loris Karius – image by Liverpoolfc.com

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“We simply identified another keeper, who is better, and signed him,” he added.

Alisson’s arrival for a then world record fee of £67million raised questions over the future of both Karius and Simon Mignolet on Merseyside.

The latter had been strongly linked with Napoli, until the Serie A side signed David Ospina on loan from Arsenal for the rest of the season.

Karius has since been tipped to depart in search of regular first-team football as a means of rediscovering the encouraging form he displayed over the second half of last season.

Turkish side Besiktas are reportedly in talks over a loan deal for the 25-year-old, with Klopp supposedly open to letting him leave before the end of the month.

Liverpool couldn’t afford not to invest heavily in the goalkeeping department, not with a realistic Premier League title shot in sight.

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