Sky Sports employee boldy claims £67m Liverpool star could be pushed out by 23-year-old

Sky Sports commentator Rob Palmer has bizarrely claimed that Alisson Becker could see his place in the starting XI stolen by Caoimhin Kelleher in the next 18 months.

The 23-year-old has been one of the Carabao Cup heroes of the season and without him, it may not have been possible to lift the trophy this season.

But there is no reason to go overboard and suggest that he is a better goalkeeper than his senior, Alisson, and there is certainly no reason to suggest he is about to replace him in the starting XI at Anfield.

And yet, Sky Sports commentator, Rob Palmer, has somehow convinced himself that the 23-year-old will be the Liverpool no.1 be the start of the 2023/24 season.

He said on the Red Agenda Podcast: “I’ve said several times I think [Kelleher] will be the Liverpool No 1 goalkeeper within the next 18 months. I think Allison is a world-class goalkeeper; I think Kelleher has the potential to be better than him.”

It's a bold, if not bizarre, claim especially when Alisson has shown himself to be arguably the best 1v1 goalkeeper in the world this season when, at times, he has been exposed by Liverpool's risky offside trap.

It's a defensive strategy that relies hugely on Virgil van Dijk and whoever he's partnered with to time and read their positioning perfectly but that's obviously impossible to do all the time.

So Alisson has to be alert and he has proven to be incredibly reliable at bailing Liverpool out of situations when it seems like basically every other goalkeeper in the world would concede.

Take West Ham versus Liverpool, for example. Pablo Fornals was clear on goal with 30 yards to weigh up how to beat the Brazil no.1.

But so did Alisson and with the Reds now employing another former Brazil goalie in Claudio Taffarel, he will have prepared himself as Fornals raced in on goal.

I was impressed as the former AS Monaco goalkeeper stood tall for as long as he could which made it difficult for the West Ham star and so when he went to chip the Reds goalkeeper, it made it possible for Alexander-Arnold to race in behind and clear the ball.

Only Ederson (15) has more clean sheets than Alisson (14) in the Premier League this season.