Liverpool almost lost the race for star goalkeeper Alisson Becker to Real Madrid.

Alisson became the world's most-expensive goalkeeper in the summer of 2018 as he arrived from AS Roma.

Agent Fabrizio de Vecchi recalled to AS: "It will seem strange, but I have a lot of affection for a signing that in the end could not be: that of Alisson to Real Madrid

“The goalkeeper was already playing for Roma, where Walter Sabatini took him, and Ernesto Bronzetti, my mentor, had recently died.

“I would have loved to close that operation: the truth is that I was very close to achieving it.

“Everyone knows that Ernesto carried out many operations between Giallorossi and Madrid: it would have been a nice way to remember him."