Liverpool have agreed a world-record fee with Roma for goalkeeper Alisson, sources have told ESPN FC.
Liverpool have met the €75 million (£66.9m) asking price for the Brazil international and have been granted permission to speak to the player about a transfer to Anfield.
Should a deal be completed, the fee would be a world-record amount for a goalkeeper, surpassing the €40m (£34.7m) that Manchester City paid Benfica for Ederson in 2017.
Roma and Liverpool both declined to comment when contacted by ESPN FC.
Alisson, 25, has been a long-term target at Liverpool, whose goalkeeping situation has remained unclear after Loris Karius’ errors in the Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid in May. Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp initially backed Karius, but sources said Danny Ward had a realistic chance of securing the Liverpool No. 1 jersey instead.
Alisson, who started for Brazil at the World Cup this summer, has also been on Chelsea’s radar amid ongoing doubt over Thibaut Courtois’ future, but Liverpool are now in pole position to land the Roma keeper.
Real Madrid have also been credited with an interest in Alisson in the past as they seek an improvement on first-choice Keylor Navas, though more recent reports have focused on Courtois.
The sources said that Roma hope the interest in Alisson would spark a bidding battle.
Alisson joined Roma from Brazilian side Internacional for €8m in 2016 and has made 64 appearances for the Italian side. Last season he kept 17 clean sheets.
He is one of only three goalkeepers who played at least 25 games and maintained a save percentage of 80 percent or higher in Europe’s top five leagues last season.
Alisson is also known for his distribution. Among the top five leagues, only Paris Saint-Germain’s Alphonse Areola (57.5) had a better completion percentage on long balls than Alisson (55.4).
He has been on holiday after playing in all five of Brazil’s fixtures in Russia this summer, keeping three clean sheets before they were knocked out by Belgium in the quarterfinals.
