John Achterberg has revealed that Liverpool missed out on landing Manuel Neuer

Liverpool are one of the best in the business when it comes to recruiting players but that was not always the case. For a long time before the arrival of Jurgen Klopp, the Reds were often mocked for their transfer activity and also made several baffling moves in the transfer windows.

One key area that needed strengthening was in between the goal following the decline of Pepe Reina. Simon Mignolet did a decent job but the position was far from secure until the arrival of Alisson Becker in 2018. The Brazilian certainly revolutionized the position and has since proven to be a reliable last line of defence.

While Alisson is likely to go on and establish himself as a legend of the game, the Reds could have actually had one donning the jersey for the last decade had Achtenberg gotten his way.

Speaking on the Aldo Speaks Podcats via Youtube, he revealed that Manuel Neuer was in his crosshairs while the player was still at Schalke. The German ace caught eyeballs during his time at the club and was even described as the ‘finest ever’ by Sir Alex Ferguson who wanted him to succeed Edwin van der Sar.

“Actually, my first goalie I said to (Damien) Comolli was (Manuel) Neuer at Schalke. I said he would be good for us, but then he said he’s going to Bayern.”

However, despite Liverpool’s admiring glances, they were beaten to the punch by Bayern Munich. The German is today both a club and national icon and is seen as the trendsetter for the modern sweeper-goalkeeping role. Neuer certainly would have been a game-changer for the Reds but we struggle to see what we could have offered back in 2011 that Bayern could not have.

Achtenberg also recommended former Inter Milan star Samir Handanovic who was then at Udinese. Unfortunately, it was not to be as he ended up at the Giuseppe Meazza. It would be a while before Liverpool finally got their act together and splashed the cash for Alisson in the decisive summer transfer window of 2018.

Achtenberg joined Liverpool as an academy goalkeeping coach in 2009 and served as a first-team goalkeeping coach for 13 years. A favourite of former boss Jurgen Klopp, Achtenberg helped build a solid goalkeeping roster that is among the best in the world. He also recommended Alisson, a player he had an eye on for a while. Clearly, the man has a future as a scout.

Had Neuer arrived at Liverpool Alisson might never ever have become a Red. The jury will certainly be out on which of the two will be preferred but the years of pain are worth it given where we eventually ended up. Missing out on Neuer will certainly go down as a what-if moment in Reds folklore.

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Liverpool today have Alisson, who is arguably the best goalkeeper in world football. They also have Caoimhin Kelleher as the second choice, a player widely regarded as the best reserve shot-stopper in the league. Both players have played key roles in leading the Reds to silverware in recent years. It is fair to say that Achtenberg eventually got it right and left the club having delivered the best goalkeeping unit in Liverpool history in the Premier League era.