Jurgen Klopp Defends Money Spent on Alisson Becker With Jan Oblak Comparison
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has hit back at critics claiming that the money spent on goalkeeper Alisson Becker is too high. The Brazilian has arrived into Anfield for a world record fee for a goalkeeper, but Klopp claims that there is nothing wrong with that.
Liverpool spent all summer chasing a new man between the sticks following Loris Karius' nightmare Champions League final. For a long time it looked as though the hunt would come to an unsuccessful end, but the Reds eventually stumped up the £67m that Roma were demanding for Alisson.
And now, Klopp has had to defend the move - using Jan Oblak's Atletico Madrid release clause to justify Alisson's signing.
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"Everybody thinks it's a lot of money. It is a lot of money," Klopp said, according to ESPN.
"But he could've left for crazy money.
"The clause for Oblak for example is €100m, so nice! And that's it in this year where obviously a few things happen on the goalkeeper position.
"That's part of the job, to try to bring the best players you can get.
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"The goalkeeper market is different because it's not each year that there is anybody available and stuff like that.
"We didn't know exactly if Alisson is available or not, but from a specific moment we realized obviously he is available and that's what the moment when we decided we want to go for him."
Liverpool are now left with three first team goalkeepers, as Alisson joins Simon Mignolet and Karius in the Reds squad.
Reports at the start of the summer suggested Mignolet was the most likely to make a move away from the club, with Barcelona even linked.
It could be a busy few weeks for Klopp now that Alisson has arrived, with the manager recently hinting that the club's focus has now shifted to departures rather than more arrivals.
