Walter Sabatini, the former Roma sporting director, has recently revealed that Liverpool’s star keeper Alisson Becker still harbours some ill feelings over his transfer to Serie A back in 2016. Initially joining from Internacional for €7.5m, Alisson had to play second fiddle to Wojciech Szczesny, then on loan from Arsenal, during his first season at Stadio Olimpico.
Despite getting game time in various competitions including the Europa League, Coppa Italia, and Champions League, Alisson didn’t feature in a single Serie A match that season, confined to the bench behind Szczesny who was eventually snapped up by Juventus for £10m in the summer of 2017.
Alisson seized his moment following Szczesny’s exit, commanding the number one spot before an impressive 2017/18 season led to a blockbuster £65m move to Liverpool – where Jurgen Klopp installed him as his first-choice goalkeeper immediately. Nevertheless, speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport, Sabatini confessed that he chose Szczesny over Alisson initially due to his experience, much to the Brazilian’s dismay: “Alisson is still angry with me, he never understood,” Sabatini said. “At the beginning I protected him, he had to improve in positioning and reading the games.”
He added: “And then we have always burned all the Brazilian goalkeepers here. I preferred Szczesny for this and he didn’t accept it.”, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Sabatini’s negotiation skills ensured Roma made a hefty profit when selling Alisson to Liverpool. The 32 year old is now considered one of the world’s top goalkeepers and has won every major honour with the Reds. Sabatini also had a significant impact on Mohamed Salah’s career, securing the Liverpool forward on loan from Chelsea for €5m in August 2015, before making the move permanent the following year for €15m.
After netting 34 goals in 83 appearances for Roma, Salah transferred to Liverpool in a £43.9m deal in the summer of 2017 and has since cemented his status as one of their all-time greats. Sabatini confessed that he was instantly taken with Salah when they met in London prior to the Egyptian’s signing.
“I went to London three to four times,” he reminisced. “I met him after 7pm for Ramadan, when he could drink. And I found myself in front of a real man, full of values, ready to sacrifice.” Both Salah and Alisson had the privilege of playing alongside the legendary Francesco Totti at Roma, who Salah regards as one of his biggest inspirations.
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“Oh, the legend, yeah, Totti. One of my idols,” Salah shared with Optus Sport earlier this season. “I had the pleasure to play alongside him, is an incredible player, I didn’t play with him in his peak but you can see how much quality he has. I played with him, I think, [when Totti was] 37, 38 but his touch is incredible, the way he reads the game is incredible. As a human being also, was a very, very good guy so nobody will be a club’s king like Totti. Never saw someone in my life have that much control and love in the city or on the club like him.”
Meanwhile, reminiscing about their time at Roma, former fitness coach Emanuele Marra highlighted Mohamed Salah’s dedication by sharing earlier this year how the forward would take a football into the shower post-training, inspired to enhance his skills alongside club legend Francesco Totti.
“Two players that I had the pleasure of training, who are Totti and Salah,” Marra reminisced during a Radio Serie A session. “At the end of training I found them dribbling in the shower while they were taking a bath.
“That is, shower with the ball in and they were dribbling: this makes you understand the passion and love there is for what they do. Dribbling at that moment certainly didn’t help improve their technique, but they did it simply because they love the ball.”
