Westerveld ranks his two best goalkeepers on the planet

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Former Liverpool stopper Sander Westerveld is a huge fan of Alisson, who he ranks as the best in the world alongside Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer.

Alisson has enjoyed a terrific debut season with Liverpool since arriving from AS Roma last summer – and has conceded less goals than any other Premier League starting keeper.

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Barring something very strange, he’ll walk away with the Golden Glove as well.

It’s been so nice having someone we can rely on between the sticks, after five years of Simon Mignolet or Loris Karius – neither of whom ever looked like elite goalkeepers.

“I think he is the perfect goalkeeper,” Westerveld told Liverpoolfc.com. “We used to have perfect goalkeepers with the likes of Neuer.

“If you look at styles of goalkeepers, Neuer has everything. He is a good footballer, he has good reaction, he commands his area – and Alisson is the same.

“He is great on one-v-ones, he is great at his reflexes on the line. He comes and takes crosses, he’s amazing with his feet and the most important thing is he makes important saves at important moments.

“So even if he makes a mistake, we still win 3-1. He never makes a mistake and we lose 1-0. Again, you need a little bit of luck as a goalkeeper but I think he is probably one of the top goalkeepers we have in the world at the moment.

“In fact, not probably, he is one of the best top two goalkeepers in the world, I would say.”

Westerveld was a mainstay of the Liverpool side that famously won five trophies in 2001 – but after that season – Gerard Houllier dumped him – infamously buying Jerzey Dudek and Chris Kirkland on the same day!

Dudek would go on to be our no.1 until the 2005/06 season, when Rafa Benitez signed Pepe Reina.

Westerveld’s career saw him play for Real Sociedad, Portsmouth, Everton and Almeria – before ultimately ending up with lower league sides in Spain and Italy. Before retiring in 2013, Westerveld was playing in South Africa, for Ajax Cape Town, where he currently works as a coach.

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