'Extraordinary monster' - Liverpool legend delivers Petr Cech message to Alisson Becker amid Saudi links
Liverpool FC transfer news: The goalkeeper has been subject to concrete interest from Saudi Arabia.
David James believes that Liverpool keeper Alisson Becker should turn down any potential move away from Anfield.
Reports over recent days have told us that Al-Nassr had sent huge package deals to the Brazilian keeper to persuade him to leave Liverpool where he still has three more years left on his current deal.
Over the past few days, it seems the Liverpool shot-stopper had turned down an approach to join ex-teammate Sadio Mane and superstar Cristiano Ronaldo in the Middle East. And now reports that Al-Nassr have agreed to sign Brazil international goalkeeper Bento from Athletico Paranaense, they have effectively ended their pursuit.
Former Liverpool goalkeeper James has told Best Online Poker Sites that while he feels current Reds stopper Alisson is the best goalkeeper in the world, he will only be able to claim the title of best Premier League goalkeeper ever if he stays at Liverpool and tries to better Petr Cech’s legacy.
“I’m a big Alisson fan and I think he’s the best goalkeeper in the world,” he said. “I’m probably slightly biased, maybe because I’m ex-Liverpool or maybe because he’s such a lovely guy, but he’s a top draw goalkeeper and I don’t think there’s any debate about that.
“However, Petr Cech for Chelsea was an extraordinary monster. Yes, he played in a different side and different era, but his record was something ridiculous like one clean sheet every two games and he was heavily influential in a lot of that. He spoke five languages so he could communicate to his defence in their native tongue, things like that you just don’t see in a game and in the data. For me, Cech was the best of all time in the Premier League.
“If Alisson stays at Liverpool – I know there’s a lot of chat about a transfer to Saudi Arabia – then he could surpass Cech. He has to do a lot of things as a goalkeeper now that Cech perhaps didn’t in a different era, so it’s difficult to compare, but I think he could move past him in the next few years.”
Cech boasts a number of incredible goalkeeping records; they include having the most clean sheets in Premier League history with 202, while Alisson only has 88 at the current time. Cech has the record for the most clean sheets in a season (24) and he went 1,025 minutes without conceding a goal in the 2004–05 season.