Alisson: I turned down Saudi Arabia to stay with Liverpool

Goalkeeper open to new contract with current terms expiring in 2027 but club have identified his long-term successor in Giorgi Mamardashvili

Liverpool keeper Alisson Becker has rejected a big-money move to Saudi Arabia to commit to the new era under Arne Slot, but says he is fully on board with the club’s succession plan for the day he quits Anfield.
Alisson has revealed he was approached by the Saudi Pro League at the end of last season, when it was thought the exit of Jurgen Klopp would prompt the Brazilian to consider his future.
But the 31-year-old says the time is not right to leave Liverpool, he wants to stay for the remainder of his deal until 2027, and is open to discussing an extension.
“I have a contract and I want to honour my contract and finish my contract here or make a new one,” said Alisson.
“I am really happy here. My family is happy. I never got to the point where I was talking about wages and things like this [with the Saudis]. It was just interest. But when you hear about the numbers the other players are getting you are a little bit attracted. That is normal.
“At the end of the day, you play football for love. It is the thing you like to do, but it is our profession and we want to use the years that we have to make the most of it. I think I am open to that personally, but not now. Now is not the time. I am really focused on the things we have here at Liverpool and while I still have my contract here, I will be focused here. If it is in the interest of the club to negotiate [for] me, then it will be a different conversation. At this time, at this window that we have, I am focused on my job here and my life in Liverpool.”
Alisson held talks with Slot immediately after the Dutchman replaced Klopp, when he was given the lowdown on the new manager’s long-term plans, but he said he had already made up his mind to commit to a fresh era.
“I never thought about leaving. I had always decided to stay,” he said.
“As I said before, I have two years plus one – the club’s choice – to stay here at Liverpool. So I will not leave now and I never thought about that. When the interest from Saudi came, I cannot close the door on a big deal. But my decision was always to stay and focus on the things we can achieve, this new beginning and this new start, and I am really excited about that. We are starting fresh with new energy and looking forward to what this season will bring for us.”
Despite Alisson’s commitment, Liverpool have put together a succession plan by pursuing Giorgi Mamardashvili, a transfer the club hopes to complete before the end of the month – with the plan then to loan the Georgian keeper back to Valencia.
The Anfield number one says he was told about the club’s intentions to bid for Mamardashvili and praised Liverpool for their forward-thinking.
“The club needs to prepare for the future,” said Alisson.
“We are not going to last forever here, I am getting old! No, for a goalkeeper I am still young, I have a lot of energy and I still have much to give for this club and I want to give to the club as much as I can. But they have to prepare for the future. They have and they will do for different positions as well. We have so many important players with the contract expiring and the club needs to organise themselves.
“I think it was a good idea, I knew about [Mamardashvili] before it came out on social media and that is a good message for me because the club cares about what I think. But they are doing the right thing in my point of view, but, on my side, as long as I have my contract here and as long as I am happy here, the club is happy with me, my family is happy here, I will stay.”
Whatever the long-term brings, in the immediate future Alisson is on board with Slot’s vision, and was grateful to hear from the new coach so soon after his appointment.
“The first contact is really important. It does not define the relationship for the year or the years, but it was really important to see how clear he is in his ideas and see how cool he is as a person as well,” said Alisson.
“He is a really nice person, a family man with a lot of conviction in his ideas of what he wants from the players and the team and what he wants to achieve. His goals are for greatness, great things at the club. The same as mine. So it was a really good [first] conversation.
“There are a lot of things to work on but all the players are excited about the style of the new manager – the way he thinks about football is pretty similar to what we had before, but he is changing a little bit the way of training and we are enjoying that.
“His way of playing is the way I like to play, starting build up, not only kicking long balls.
“Sometimes people make football too complicated. If you can make it as simple as possible for the players – bring good ideas that we are going to work out – it is the best way of doing that. I think it was the right choice. And he is bringing new energy for us as well.
“The sessions are a little bit longer and there are a lot of meetings as well, and that is good. It is good to visualise what we are going to do in the training sessions. The staff is using all the tools that they have to make us a better team.
“This is a new beginning, a new era. We are really happy with the way things are going, and we hope that we can bring results, and at the end of the season bring trophies for the club.”