Alisson's Future at Liverpool: A Tough Decision Ahead
For six years, Liverpool have slept soundly knowing the last line was Alisson.
Since arriving from Roma in 2018, the Brazilian has been the calm at the heart of the chaos, the final piece in a puzzle that turned near-misses into major honours. A once-problem position at Anfield became a pillar of a title-winning machine.
The numbers tell part of the story.
- 333 appearances in all competitions.
- Two Premier League titles.
- Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup.
A goalkeeper who didn’t just fit into a great side – he helped define it.
Now comes the uncomfortable part. Alisson is 33. His contract has only 12 months left to run. That combination always draws attention, and leading clubs in Italy are said to be watching closely, sensing the rare chance to tempt away one of the game’s elite keepers while Liverpool can still demand a fee.
Letting him go would not simply mean changing the man in gloves. It would rip out a piece of the club’s identity.
Harder to replace than Salah?
When a player with 257 goals like Mohamed Salah walks towards the exit, the instinct is to assume there can be no bigger loss. Yet former Liverpool goalkeeper Brad Friedel believes Alisson’s departure could cut even deeper – at least for the man now in the dugout.
“From Arne Slot’s perspective, possibly,” Friedel told GOAL in association with MrQ, when asked if losing Alisson would hurt more than losing the ‘Egyptian King’. He pointed to a relationship between Slot and Salah that “was starting to become a little bit like oil and water”.
So while Salah’s decade of brilliance will leave a huge hole in Liverpool’s attack, Friedel sees something different when he looks at Alisson.
“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.”
That’s not a throwaway line. It’s rooted in what the Brazilian has represented: reliability, humility, and an ability to stand tallest when the moment is at its biggest.
Friedel, speaking both as a former pro and a Liverpool supporter, did not hide his feelings.
“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.”
That last point matters. Liverpool’s high line has always asked a lot of its goalkeeper. Alisson hasn’t just coped with that pressure; he has thrived under it, turning countless one-on-ones into routine saves, turning panic into platform.
Friedel believes that even as age and injuries inevitably nibble away at a keeper’s physical edge, Alisson’s class will endure.
“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.”
Who on earth replaces Alisson?
That’s the question that stalks every conversation about his future. If Liverpool are pushed into a corner this summer, who can possibly fill those boots?
One name has been floated: James Trafford. The 23-year-old England international is highly rated but currently stuck behind Gianluigi Donnarumma at Manchester City, his pathway blocked at a club where patience is in short supply.
“Possibly,” Friedel said when asked if Trafford could be an option. Then he laid out the reality of what the job actually is at a club like Liverpool.
“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.”
That word – expects – is the crux. At Liverpool, the goalkeeper doesn’t just guard a goal. He carries the weight of a global institution that assumes it should be competing for every major trophy, every season.
“It’s a different type of mentality that you need when you’re a goalkeeper at these top clubs,” Friedel added. Trafford, in his view, has real quality. But asking a 23-year-old to step straight into Alisson’s shadow is a huge ask.
“I like him a lot, but that’s also a lot to load onto him.”
So Friedel turned to a different profile, one already hardened by elite-level pressure.
“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.”
Martínez, a World Cup winner with Argentina, fits that description: loud, combative, unapologetically confident. The type who relishes the noise rather than shrinks from it.
Yet even then, Friedel made clear how narrow the field really is.
“There aren’t many out there that you can just pinpoint and say: ‘He’s our guy’. That’s a hard decision.”
And that is where Liverpool find themselves. A year left on the contract of a generational goalkeeper. Serious interest circling. A new head coach trying to reshape a side already braced for life without Salah.
Do they cash in now and gamble on finding the next great No.1, or back Alisson as the cornerstone of a new era and risk losing him for nothing later?
For a club that finally solved its goalkeeping problem in 2018, the stakes could hardly be higher if that door swings open again.
