Loris Karius has been in the news this week for all the wrong reasons and frankly, this could be the worst week of his fledgeling Liverpool career.
We all remember the Champions League final and there has been a lot said about Karius’ concussion. Sergio Ramos has had his say and even took a pop at Firmino while Hector Cuper came out and defended his prized possession, Salah.
But this piece isn’t about whether Karius was at fault due to the concussions or stuff related to that but this is about our goalkeeping position and what we haven’t done in years.
No big-money goalkeeper signings for years
While we spent £75million on Virgil van Dijk this season and have constantly splashed double-digit sums on outfield players, the same cannot be said about our goalkeepers. It makes for a poor reading if a list of all our goalkeeper signings are shared.
Adam Bogdan – Free
Loris Karius – £4.7m
Simon Mignolet – £9m
Doni – Free
Diego Cavalieri – Free
Peter Gulacsi – Fee unknown
Pepe Reina – £6m
Scott Carson – £750,000
Chris Kirkland – Fee unknown
Jerzy Dudek – £4.85m
Sander Westerveld – Fee unknown
Brad Friedel – Fee unknown
David James – Fee unknown
Simon Mignolet, the player who can’t get a game now, thanks to his blunders over the years, is our most expensive goalkeeper signing.
I am not criticising the player at all, after all, every footballer has peaks and troughs but unfortunately, Mignolet has not been able to develop after a stellar first season for us where we almost won the league. If we are to look at the entire list of keepers we bought from the 92/93 season, only Pepe Reina stands out during his time at the club.
Clubs sign big-name players for big fees to make a difference
Brad Friedel was a good keeper but his best years came for Blackburn Rovers. And the likes of Peter Gulacsi, Doni and Diego Cavalieri actually came well after they left Liverpool.
We have never spent big on a goalkeeper, something that really tears my hair out. Manchester United spent close to £17million on a frail David de Gea to pry him from Atletico Madrid when they needed some quality. He took a few years to become the best goalkeeper in the world but the wait has been worth it.
Big teams spend big when they need to plug in holes. Barcelona got a steal when they brought in Marc-Andre ter Stegen for €12million from Borussia Monchengladbach and Bayern Munich fought hard against Schalke to bring in Manuel Neuer for a fee of €30million.
Pep Guardiola smashed a record fee to bring in Ederson while we have been in the news for a quality keeper for years.
To become one of the best clubs in the world, we will have to spend big too. It doesn’t make great sense in having the best attack in the country if we cannot be sure of keeping clean sheets.
Fortunately, Jurgen Klopp seems to have a game plan for the Reds. He fought hard to bring in Virgil van Dijk and that is paying dividends.
Another signing that was ridiculed at the start was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and the former Arsenal man did make a good impact for us until that knee injury ended his season.
Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane were thought to be overpriced and no one knew what to do with Roberto Firmino until Klopp showed how brilliantly the three can play together.
Yes, there are stories of us finding hidden gems such as Andy Robertson or even Steve Finnan in recent years but we have to spend money now given that we have suffered because of our lack of investment in goalkeepers for many years now.
It doesn’t matter whether we sign Alisson, Jan Oblak or Thibaut Courtois but we have to bring in a top quality keeper and finally create a proper spine for the side.
Given that our midfield and defence are strong, it’s time to bring in a world-class goalkeeper. This should be something that can take us to the next level and hopefully with a quality keeper, we will win a few more points and finally win the Premier League title.
