Liverpool have a clear strategy when it comes to their young goalkeepers. In the past, the Reds had the likes of Peter Gulacsi and Martin Hansen in their youth ranks, but with no clear pathway, the duo would leave on loan before being discarded at the end of their contracts, yet now find themselves enjoying successful careers in the Bundesliga with RB Leipzig and Hannover 96 respectively.
But with Jurgen Klopp and goalkeeping coach John Achterberg, Liverpool are changing that narrative. With Alisson as the Reds’ first-choice goalkeeper, and tied down to a long-term contract until the summer of 2027, it is a daunting prospect for any young shot-stopper moving to Merseyside and looking to forge a career at Anfield.
Yet Liverpool have had a number of goalkeepers come through their ranks and go on to forge successful careers, with the Reds including them in the senior set-up, determined to give them the best possible tools to make it in the game. Having made three appearances for the club, Danny Ward left Liverpool in a £12.5m move to join Leicester City in the summer of 2018, following a number of loan moves, and is now Wales’ first-choice goalkeeper.
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Kamil Grabara departed for Copenhagen in a £3m last summer, following a number of temporary moves of his own, with the 23-year-old now determined to break into the Poland national squad. Meanwhile, Ryan Fulton and Shamal George might have both left on free transfers, but they now find themselves first-choice at Hamilton Academical and Colchester United.
And Liverpool are already looking after their latest generation, with Caoimhin Kelleher thriving as Alisson’s understudy, making his Reds debut back in 2019, and now a regular in the Republic of Ireland squad, while Vitezslav Jaros and Jakub Ojrzynski have obtained valuable game-time of their own out on loan.
And now, nearly two years on from joining Liverpool in a £1m deal from Brazilian side Fluminense, Marcelo Pitaluga is set to be the latest man to benefit from such forward-thinking after joining Macclesfield Town on loan for the 2022/23 season.
The 19-year-old has trained regularly with Alisson, Kelleher, Adrian and the rest of the Reds first team at the AXA Training Centre in Kirkby since moving to Merseyside, with the club happy with his progress so far. And after over 18 months adjusting to English football and playing for the club's Under-23s side, Liverpool have now followed through on plans to hand the Brazilian more game-time.
“He’s a good talent and we are happy with his progress,” Achterberg said in an exclusive interview with the ECHO last year. “Now he just needs to play more and more. He had quite a bit of an injury which obviously didn’t help him too much but now he’s back fit, he’s training and learning from Ali as well, and Caoimhin and Adrian are all trying to help.
“We as the coaches, me and Jack (Robinson), try and help him as well to make the next step. That’s how it is. I don’t want to put him under pressure because he is still a young boy. The plan is to make the right steps for him, when he is ready to go on loan or maybe play some friendlies and stuff like that.
“We try to make the next step like we do with all the young goalies. Caoimhin is making really big steps. We did it with Danny Ward and then sold him. We always try and have one or two of the young goalies up to improve them and to let them see the speed and the movements we’re having, to try and help them that way, but to also tell them individually what they have to do.”
He continued: “There is a lot of thinking behind it and in the end, we try and make everyone as good as we can to give them a good career, and to have the goalies making good decisions on the field to make the next step. You have to be able to play under pressure and be calm under pressure. That’s how it works.
“We try to make them the right career by the right steps and then hopefully he can make the big step because not everyone will make it at Liverpool. It is playing for a special club and you have to produce under pressure, but hopefully he can do all these things. I don’t want to put him under pressure, we just want to see what happens. I want him to just develop and make the next steps, that is the main thing.
“It’s what we did with Kamil and then we sold him, but they can make a really good career and make the national team. They progress well but progressing with playing is better always, of course.”
Achterberg played a big role in Liverpool signing Pitaluga, having spotted the youngster in the Brazil squad for Under-17s FIFA World Cup in 2019. Having liked what he saw, the Dutchman called upon Alisson and his brother Muriel, who played alongside Pitaluga at Fluminense, to find out more about the young shot-stopper before persuading the Reds to make a move for his services.
“I follow a little bit of everything and I was looking at the Under-17s World Cup squads,” Achterberg recalled when explaining how Liverpool came to sign the Brazilian. “I try to follow the countries and the games to see the keepers, but I also look at the number two goalies and he was the number two goalie, but he was a year younger. If you’re a year younger in the World Cup, that means you must be half-decent because otherwise you would not be in the squad.
“Normally they are all the same age but he was a year younger, so I thought I need to search him up, if there were any games. I found some games and found that he was at Fluminense and I found out the physical size of him. Then I look at the games and thought, 'Yes, that is what we like and what we look for'.
“Then I spoke to the boss and the scouting department, and there was Ali’s brother so I asked Ali to speak to his brother. Ali spoke to him and said, “Yeah, he’s a good talent and he’s training with the first team.” Stuff like that. Then Ali went during the break to train with Fluminense so he saw a little bit and he brought some training clips back. Then I had to try to tell the recruitment team why we should try and get him if we could.
“They had a look themselves, made a video of all his good stuff and bad stuff and then you explain, “Okay, we can improve this and we can work on that." When everyone agrees and the club agreed to pay the money, that is how it happened.”
Moving halfway across the world is an intimidating prospect for any player, never mind a teenager in the midst of a global health pandemic. But fortunately for Pitaluga he has compatriot Alisson looking after him both on and off the pitch.
“He is really independent and the club has a lot of people who help him,” Achterberg said. “He can speak if there is any issue, everyone talks to him and tries to help him and organise things for him to make sure he is happy.
“Ali looks after him and the other Brazilian boys as well. There is a good bond in the team with all the guys really, and there’s quite a few Portuguese-speaking boys so they all help each other as well as they can so that’s perfect.
“You can ask Caoimhin (how beneficial it is training with Alisson), but they learn off each other as well. They all look at each other. You make sessions to try and make it specific to develop and try and improve but also to prepare them for games. Of course, hopefully they also learn off each other.”
So, ahead of departing on loan, how has Pitaluga progressed in Liverpool training? Achterberg understandably wasn’t giving much away last October, but confirmed the Reds never stop working hard to improve their players.
“He’s still young, he’s only 18 and he needs to improve a little bit and develop his body a bit more really,” the Dutchman said. “But that’s normal when you’re that age. To become a little bit more robust if you like but he’s working on that in the gym as well to get that.
“At the moment, he is really calm when playing with his feet but everything can always be improved. That’s how it is with everyone, every individual can improve. We can work on specific playing with the feet. I don’t want to say too much what he needs to improve because that would put him under pressure but he knows from me what I want to improve, put it that way, and he is working every day on it.
“We work specifically on it and he has a gym programme and in training, he has individual goalkeeper training and team training. You’ll improve in any department and that is always the plan. You improve shot-stopping by working on strength, power and movements. Technical movements but also tactical movements. You work on one v one situations and crosses.
“All this has to develop and you make special training for that for making the right decisions, being the right body shape and so on. Technically he has a lot of good qualities and hopefully he can make the next steps.”
With more game-time the obvious next step for Pitaluga, Achterberg admitted a future loan move for the Brazilian was possible last year. And while it didn't materialise in January, it's something that Liverpool continued to look out before sanctioning his temporary move to Macclesfield.
“If the right step is there and we feel he is ready, then we discuss it and make the decision,” Achterberg said when asked about the possibility. “We’re always looking at it. We try to get him as many games every week to keep improving and we’ll take it from there.”
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