Jamie Carragher has claimed that Alisson Becker could overtake Ray Clemence as Liverpool’s best ever goalkeeper in his opinion.
In conversation with fellow former Reds Phil Thompson and Jim Beglin for Goal, Carragher compared the current Liverpool team with those in the past.
Discussing which of Jurgen Klopp’s players would make it into Liverpool’s best ever XI, Carra chose three players.
“One hundred per cent. I’d probably have three of the current team in the greatest XI now,” said the pundit. “[Virgil] Van Dijk and [Mohamed] Salah are in it, for me. I think by the end of his career, you’d look at Trent [Alexander-Arnold] as well with the role he has and the impact he’s had.”
Additionally, Carragher namechecked three more of The Reds class of 2021/22 as being in with a shout in the future, including Alisson.
“Alisson will have a great shout of really pushing Ray Clemence too,” he said. “Andy Robertson would have a shout, and while I don’t think I’d ever take John Barnes out of my greatest XI, Sadio Mane is probably the closest we’ve ever had to him. That probably tells me everything you need to know.”
Alisson in the conversation
Picking Liverpool’s best ever XI is obviously a hugely subjective debate. A lot depends on your age, and recency and nostalgia bias make it impossible to truly be sure.
Liverpool have had a number of great goalkeepers down the years. You only need to take a look at the newly-erected mural at the AXA Training Centre for confirmation of that.
But however old you are or whomever you lean towards, Alisson certainly has to be part of the conversation.
For one, he is the only goalkeeper in Liverpool history to win the Premier League. Only four have lifted the European Cup/Champions League as first-choice – Alisson being among them.
Clemence still the man to beat
The 29-year-old ‘keeper still has some way to go to match Clemence’s tally of three in that respect. Clemence also contributed massively to five league titles, one FA Cup, a League Cup, two UEFA Cups and a European Super Cup.13 titles. Quite incredible.
Alisson meanwhile currently has four to his name in Liverpool red. Should things go smoothly over the next two weeks, that will hopefully turn to five, six or maybe even seven if the footballing Gods really feel like intervening.
In that respect, he still has some way to go to match Clemence. Alisson is contracted to the club until 2027 though. By the time he departs Anfield, you’d expect him to have at least closed that gap.
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