BREAKING NEWS LIVE : Allison Becker to Saudi Arabian pro league

Fabrizio Romano reacts amid claims Liverpool will sell big-name star with £29m replacement lined up

That evidence of their long-term strategy and planning was evident this summer in particular when Liverpool agreed a big-money deal with Valencia for towering Georgian goalkeeper Mamardashvili.

After impressing at Euro 2024 and having underlined his status as one of the best around, demand for the 6ft 6in star was high. However, it was Liverpool who triggered his signing, striking an inital £25m (€29.6m / $32.8m) with another £4m in add-ons and taking the overall package to some £

The real ace up the sleeve for Liverpool, though, is that the move to bring Mamardashvili to Anfield will be delayed by a year, with Valencia allowed to retain the player’s services on loan for the duration of the 2024/25 season.

That move was seen as a no-brainer for Liverpool, who already boast one of, if not the, best goalkeepers in the world in Alisson Becker.

Liverpool transfers: Romano reacts to claims Slot could sell Alisson

To underline that quality, he is yet to concede a goal in 270 minutes of football this season, with the Reds defence yet to be breached in their three games so far, which have yielded two 2-0 wins and that famous 3-0 victory at Old Trafford.

The 70-times capped Brazil goalkeeper has now made 266 appearances for the Reds, famously scoring once in a 2-1 victory at West Brom in 2021. Ironically, that is one more goal than Joe Gomez has managed in his 224 games!

Jokes aside, Liverpool moved for Mamardashvili to not just protect their own interests there for a number of years but also amid strong interest from Saudi Arabia in Alisson.

Indeed, TEAMtalk exclusively broke the news that the Brazilian was the subject of a huge approach from Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr this summer.

And while that interest was ultimately staved off, it’s since been claimed that Liverpool have alreasdy agreed to offload him next summer to make room for Mamardashvili.

Reacting to those rumours, though, transfer expert Romano insists it is too soon to make such a judgement.

“On the rumours for Alisson, it’s the same as Kovacic, nothing at all,” Romano said on the Daily Briefing.

“Mentioning a target today for a club in July 2025 is a guess job, and I’m not into it guys.

“The Saudis have appreciated Alisson for a long time but that’s it. Predicting his future means inventing stuff.”