Part of Liverpool’s overhaul this summer has been a big change in the goalkeeping department.
The Reds are still getting used to life without Jurgen Klopp, but there has also been a big shift in the backroom team to adjust to as well.
Over the past 13 years, John Actherberg has been the man tasked with getting the Liverpool goalkeepers up to speed.
Achterberg grew to be an influential member of Klopp’s coaching team and chose to walk away from Anfield along with the German. Achterberg will now join Al Ettifaq under Steven Gerrard.
Before things get going for him in Saudi Arabia, though, the Dutchman has been lifting the lid on various aspects of the previous decade and more with Liverpool.
John Achterberg lifts lid on Pepe Reina exit
When Achterberg first became Liverpool’s head of goalkeeping in 2011, Pepe Reina was the first choice at the club.
Reina is one of the best goalies in Liverpool history, playing 394 times across an eight-year spell with the Reds. His trophy haul of one FA Cup, a League Cup and a UEFA Super Cup should really have been bigger.
There are plenty of Reds supporters who will feel that his stay at the club should have been longer, too.
Despite being a key player for Liverpool for close to a decade, Reina found himself surplus to requirements under Brendan Rodgers in 2013.
The World Cup winner was loaned out to Rafa Benitez’s Napoli that summer, with Simon Mignolet brought in to replace him. Reina joined the Italians permanently the following year.
Although the Spaniard was not at the peak of his powers in 2013, he was still only 30 and had many years ahead of him. In fact, Reina has just joined Como and is still playing today. In short, it was a slightly odd transfer.
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But lifting the lid on why Reina was sold while speaking to John Aldridge’s Aldo Meets Podcast, Achterberg suggests that it was fairly straightforward: Liverpool wanted him off the wage bill.
“He’s a great guy, no?” the 53-year-old says of Reina. “He had a great career, unbelievable what he did. I actually text him a week ago, we were just talking about things.
“Reina was a really good guy, his distribution was one of the best in the world at time, with the throwing as well and the side volley. And if he came for a punch he could _______ punch the ball to the halfway line, crazy!
“The problem was the club wanted to change because he was really expensive in the wages and that’s why they tried to change over and that’s what happened.”
Did Liverpool make the right decision?
It’s hard to argue really if the reason Liverpool wanted to move Reina on was for FSG clear space on the wage bill.
The 41-year-old was declining slightly at the time and didn’t appear to fully have the trust of Rodgers. If the manager wanted to go in a different direction, then it made sense at the time.
Having said that, it’s hard to argue that his replacement – Mignolet – was a better goalkeeper than Reina.
During the Aldo Meets Pdocast, Achterberg confirms that the choices for Reina’s successor were Mignolet, Tim Krul and Asmir Begovic. None were better than Pepe, even in his decline.
It arguably took Liverpool fully five years to replace Reina, when they brought in Alisson Becker. Had the former No.1 been between the sticks for all of that period, maybe the Reds would have been better off.
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