Goalkeeper Alisson joins Liverpool for record transfer fee
London, July 20: Liverpool FC has confirmed that it has completed the signing of Brazilian net minder Alisson Becker from AS Roma for a 67-million-pound ($87.2-million) transfer fee, a world record for a goalkeeper.
The 25-year-old goalie signed a long-term contract with the Reds after undergoing a medical, the club said on its website on Thursday, without providing further details, reports Efe.
Alisson played 49 games for Roma last season and helped lead the Serie A club to the Champions League semi-final round, where it lost to Liverpool 7-6 on aggregate.
The Brazilian also was his national team's starting goalkeeper in all five matches at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, a campaign that ended with a 2-1 loss to Belgium in the quarter-finals.
In a lengthy interview on the Reds' Web site, the team's fourth new arrival of the summer described the qualities he will be bringing to the Premier League club.
"I'm quick to come off my line. I'm an agile 'keeper; despite being tall, I've got very good agility and strength in my legs," Alisson said.
He also said he liked having the ball at his feet and could help the team's attack. "When the play starts from the back and the ball arrives in a good way for the attackers to shoot, it's always better," the goalie added.
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Talks about split coaching surprising, important for people to stay in their domain: Gambhir
Visakhapatnam (PTI): India head coach Gautam Gambhir on Saturday came down heavily on theories doing the rounds on social media about split coaching, terming them "surprising" and asked those opinion-makers to stay "in their domain."
After India’s recent 0-2 Test series defeat against South Africa, some influential cricketing names, including an IPL team owner, asked the BCCI to consider appointing separate coaches for red-ball and white ball formats.
"Look, there were a lot of talks because the results didn't go in our favour (in Test series). But the most surprising thing is that not once did any media or journalist wrote that our first Test match (in Kolkata) was played without the captain (Shubman Gill), who didn't bat in both innings (because of a neck injury)," Gambhir said during the post-match press meet after India clinched the ODI series against SA 2-1.
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Gambhir said such opinion makers should refrain from making remarks that have no direct connection with on-field cricketing matters.
“Some people also said things that have nothing to do with cricket. An IPL team owner (Parth Jindal of Delhi Capitals on X) also wrote about split coaching.
“So this is surprising. It's very important for people to stay in their domain. Because if we don't go into someone's domain, then they also don't have the right to come into our domain,” Gambhir added.
Gambhir had also stated his achievements as the red-ball coach in the post-match press conference at Guwahati in what looked like a self-defence mechanism after a series defeat at home.
“I don't give excuses in press conferences. It doesn't mean that you don't show the facts in front of the world or the country. When you go through a transition and when you lose your captain, who is also your main batter in red-ball cricket against such a team (SA).
"Then obviously the results are difficult because you don't have that much experience in red ball cricket. And the surprising thing is that no one even talked about it. All the discussions about wickets, I don't know what all things were said," he noted.
