Liverpool sign U17 World Cup winner Pitaluga who worked with Alisson’s brother at Fluminense

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The Reds have added to their goalkeeping crop by snapping up another highly-rated Brazilian who has already enjoyed international success

Liverpool have added to their goalkeeping crop by bringing in Marcelo Pitaluga, an Under-17 World Cup winner with Brazil who worked with Alisson’s brother Muriel at Fluminense in 2019-20.

Goal learned back in September that a deal for the highly-rated 17-year-old was on the cards.

An agreement thought to be worth up to £2 million ($2.6m) has now been pushed through, allowing Pitaluga to join the ranks at Anfield, where he will work with the first team and represent academy sides.

The South American starlet will be hoping to one day follow in the footsteps of fellow countryman Alisson by becoming the Reds’ number one, having already made the bench at senior level with Fluminense and tasted global glory at youth level with his country.

John Achterberg, Liverpool’s head of goalkeeping, told the club’s official website of Pitaluga’s capture: “I saw him for the first time in the World Cup squad. You’re checking all the goalies and looking at the ages.

“You see that he was in the World Cup squad one year younger than the rest of the squad, then you think that’s worth a look because normally you have two goalkeepers of the same age, but if you have someone who is a year younger you think he may have some good attributes.

“He was at Fluminense; we got some games to look at, all the other goalie coaches also look at it – Jack [Robinson] and the academy coaches Mark [Morris] and Taff [Neil Edwards]. And, of course, I speak to the gaffer and the rest of the coaching department here.

“In Fluminense we had Allan [on loan], so I spoke to Julian [Ward, loan pathways and football partnerships manager] if he saw a little bit of him in training there. He saw him too and was also positive.

“I asked Ali to speak to his brother to see how it goes and how he is doing. Ali spoke to his brother and Ali went training there. We saw a little bit from the training and the games he was playing for the reserves in Brazil.

“He was already 16 playing in the reserve team there so you also think they trust him to play already in the reserves at 16.”

Achterberg added: “Now he is here, we have to improve [him]. He is still young, there is no pressure because there is still a long road and we don’t want to create any pressure for him because there is still work to do.

“First of all, you need to let him settle down, find his way. He needs to learn the speed, the kind of game in England is different than in Brazil, it’s a lot faster and there’s more aggression in it. All that stuff you have to calculate as well to work on a little bit.”

2020-10-08 18:00:04

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