Roma sporting director Monchi confirmed today, while speaking at the unveiling of Justin Kluivert, that a bid from Liverpool had been accepted.
He confirmed it was a ‘significant offer’ and confirmed a medical is happening now.
“The player’s there undergoing a medical and, if he passes that, the deal could go through,” he said.
“It’s hard when you’re a sporting director — we received a significant offer for Alisson and we evaluated it.
“In the end, we took a decision and, speaking with Liverpool, we reached an agreement. It’s not that we lack ambition. We’ve only sold two players and we’ve signed 10, and we’re going to continue looking for players to make us an even bigger club.”
Liverpool have agreed to meet Roma’s valuation for the first-choice Brazil international, who kept 17 clean sheets in 37 Serie A games last season.
The deal will smash the current record transfer for a goalkeeper – £35million paid to Benfica by Manchester City for Alisson’s compatriot Ederson last summer.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has given public backing to Loris Karius following his calamitous Champions League final performance but has made signing a goalkeeper a priority.
The club are not prepared to say anything publicly until the deal is completed.
Chelsea have also been linked with the 25-year-old, who began his career with Internacional before moving to Roma two years ago.
Italian website Forza Roma, which is affiliated to newspaper La Gazzetta Dello Sport, published a video which it said showed Alisson at Rome’s Ciampino airport.
It said he was preparing to board a private jet to Manchester and was on his way to Liverpool for a medical on Saturday.
Alisson spoke in the video, saying: “Greetings to Roma fans. I’m sorry but I cannot say any more, I’ll say everything later.”
WHO IS ALISSON?
Sibling rivalry
Alisson’s brother Muriel is also a professional goalkeeper. As boys, they watched their father, who was a keeper for a team in their home town of Novo Hamburgo in Brazil.
The brothers came through the ranks at Internacional together, but in the early years Alisson trailed behind his brother, who is five years older. “When I entered my teens, I wasn’t even the best goalkeeper in the family,” he told the Players’ Tribune.
Muriel now plays in Portugal for Belenenses. Alisson said he has his brother to thank for everything he has achieved for inspiring him to become a goalkeeper.
Late bloomer
While in the youth set-up at Internacional, he came close to quitting football. Alisson said he was a late developer, which left him smaller and weaker than the other goalkeepers.
He became the third choice keeper and did not get picked to play in the biggest competition of the year for 14- to 15 year-olds.
“Honestly, I thought about packing it in,” he wrote in his Players’ Tribune article. Thankfully he persevered and over the next year he grew by around seven inches, giving him the physicality to match his technique.
Tough competition
If competing with his brother for a starting place was not hard enough, Alisson also had to contend with former Brazil shot-stopper Dida at Internacional in 2014-15.
The World Cup and two-time Champions League winner spent one year at the Porto Alegre club before retiring, age 41. He also had to wait a year behind the established Wojciech Szczesny after joining Roma, making just 10 Europa League appearances in his first season before taking over as number one after Szczesny’s departure to Juventus.
Alisson admitted he was close to leaving Roma if he was not promised regular football.
Family man
The 25-year-old has been with his wife Natalia Loewe since 2012 and they got married in 2015. She was often seen cheering on her husband from the stands in Russia at the World Cup, donning a Brazil shirt. The couple have a one-year-old daughter together, Helena.
Music man
Alisson is an accomplished singer and guitar player, regularly travelling with the instrument and once rounding off an appearance on Brazilian talk show ‘The Noite with Danilo Gentili’ with an acoustic performance in the studio. His other hobbies away from the pitch include video games and fishing.