Alisson Becker is facing questions over his Liverpool future just as the club is trying to hold the line after Sunday’s draw with Brentford secured Champions League football for next season. The 33-year-old made one important save to deny Kevin Schade in the first half, but the bigger issue now is whether this is his final run-in at Anfield.
Reports have linked Alisson with interest from Juventus, and one local report went as far as saying he could complete a move to the Italian club this summer. Liverpool, though, need a decision that matches the reality of where they are now, not where they were when he arrived from Roma in the summer of 2018 for a then-record £66.8million fee for a goalkeeper.
That move changed everything. Before Alisson, Liverpool had finished fourth with 75 points and lost the Champions League final to Real Madrid in Kyiv. In his first season, they climbed to 97 points, finished second and won the Champions League. He became the goalkeeper who steadied a team that had been close, but not yet complete.
He is still doing enough to matter. Liverpool needed to avoid losing against Brentford to confirm their place among next season’s Champions League participants, and Alisson again showed why the club have trusted him for so long. But he turns 34 in October, has been increasingly injured and has missed nearly 30% of the last three Premier League seasons. Those are not small warning signs for a position that depends on rhythm as much as reflexes.
The succession plan is already in motion. Liverpool arranged the purchase of Giorgi Mamardashvili two years ago and formally ratified it last summer, a clear sign that they have long expected a transition in goal. Mamardashvili is now challenging Alisson for a starting spot, and that challenge matters because Liverpool have already allowed Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson to leave this summer. The squad is not being rebuilt slowly. It is being pushed forward.
That is why an exit for Alisson would be too much too soon. He has been Liverpool’s best goalkeeper of the modern era, and the club should keep him for at least one more year. The argument is not sentimental. It is about timing, stability and the risk of asking too much of the next man before the team has finished moving on from the old one.
Juventus may want a goalkeeper of his calibre, and Liverpool may believe the next phase is beginning in goal. But the facts on the pitch still point in one direction: when Alisson is available, he remains a difference-maker. The question now is whether Liverpool are prepared to let that difference walk away before they are fully ready to replace it.
