Argentine goalkeeper on Liverpool’s shortlist to replace Alisson

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Image Credits: Imago ImagesFor eight years, Alisson Becker has been the last line of a dynasty.Since arriving at Anfield from Roma in the summer of 2018 for what was then a world-record fee for a goalkeeper, the Brazilian has been as central to Liverpool’s era of dominance as any outfield player.Under his watch, Liverpool won the Premier League, the Champions League, the FA Cup, the League Cup, the UEFA Super Cup, and the FIFA Club World Cup.He won the UEFA Champions League Goalkeeper of the Year award in 2019, the same season he scored a stoppage-time header at Newcastle that kept Liverpool’s title hopes alive — a moment that remains one of the most surreal in the club’s recent history.In 2019 he also won the FIFA Best Goalkeeper award.He is, by any measure, one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation.Which makes the reports now circulating around his future all the more significant.Alisson is edging closer to a move to Juventus this summer, with suggestions that personal terms are already agreed between the parties.Liverpool triggered a 12-month extension in his contract earlier this year, but that has done little to halt the momentum building towards a departure.The Brazilian has not featured in recent weeks due to a hamstring injury — he missed Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea at Anfield — and with Juventus closing in, the clock on his Liverpool career appears to be ticking loudly.Reports suggest the Turin club are nearing a deal worth around £8.5 million for the 32-year-old.Liverpool had planned for this eventuality.Giorgi Mamardashvili was signed from Valencia last summer specifically to be Alisson’s long-term successor — a statement of intent about the future of the position.But his first season in English football has been uneven, and the Anfield hierarchy are not yet fully convinced he is ready to carry the weight of a title-challenging season on his shoulders from day one.The 1-1 draw with Chelsea, in which Enzo Fernandez’s free-kick found its way through before half-time, did little to settle those doubts.And so Liverpool are looking elsewhere — and the name emerging from their shortlist is a significant one.According to TuttoJuve, Liverpool have identified Aston Villa’s Emiliano Martinez as their preferred option if Alisson departs this summer.The Argentine World Cup winner, described in some quarters as “the best goalkeeper in the world”, was expected to leave Villa Park last summer, only for a proposed move to Manchester United to collapse late in the window, with United ultimately signing Senne Lammens instead.His contract at Villa runs until June 2027.At 33, Martinez brings everything Liverpool would need in the short term.His shot-stopping is elite, his command of his penalty area is authoritative, and his presence — loud, imposing, occasionally controversial — is exactly the kind of personality that fills a dressing room.He was crucial to Argentina’s 2022 World Cup triumph in Qatar, producing a series of extraordinary saves in the final against France, and has been consistently among the best performers in the Premier League since his move from Arsenal to Villa in 2020.Villa, who face a Europa League final against Freiburg in Istanbul and are pushing for a top-five Premier League finish simultaneously, will not want to lose him.But with Alisson heading for Turin and Mamardashvili’s long-term suitability still an open question, Liverpool’s interest in Martinez is unlikely to cool quickly.One goalkeeper’s era ends.Another could be about to begin. Alisson Becker Emiliano Martinez