Liverpool have been quite busy over the summer. They have completed deals for Fabinho and Naby Keita and both players will officially join the club on July 1st. But now, Jurgen Klopp will be hoping to make more signings after the club’s collapse in the Champions League final. A number of their weaknesses were exposed as Real Madrid won the game 3-1 in Kiev.
One of the main reasons for their loss was Loris Karius’ errors between the sticks. Liverpool have failed to possess a top quality goalkeeper since the days of Pepe Reina at the club. Simon Mignolet was brought in from Sunderland and the Belgian was always inconsistent with his displays.
Klopp then went ahead and signed Karius from the Bundesliga, and the German enjoyed a decent Premier League campaign after taking Mignolet’s spot. Liverpool conceded the least number of goals since the turn of the year and Karius was in goal. But then the German undid all his good work in Kiev.
In the aftermath of the Champions League breakdown, the Merseyside club have been linked with a number of goalkeepers. One of their main targets is reportedly Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper Bernd Leno. The German has been at the club since 2011, having made 233 appearances for the club.
But is Leno the right choice for Liverpool? In just 19 appearances, Karius maintained 10 clean sheets for the Reds and conceded a total of 14 goals. Leno, on the other hand, was able to maintain merely 9 clean sheets in 30 appearances. But this could also be due to the role played by the defence.
Liverpool possess a stronger defensive setup than Bayer Leverkusen. Regardless, the 26-year-old Leno does not seem like an upgrade to Karius.
Meanwhile, the Reds have also been linked with Roma’s Alisson Becker and Athletico Madrid’s Jan Oblak. Now, these two are playing at the top of their game. Alisson kept a total of 15 clean sheets in the Serie A, averaging 2.71 saves per game.
Oblak has even better numbers. The goalkeeper kept 21 clean sheets in 34 La Liga appearances last season. He also averaged 2.41 saves per game.
From the above stats, it is pretty clear that Alisson and Oblak are the better targets when compared to Bernd Leno. Klopp cannot afford to sign another goalkeeping after this, as he must make it count this time. It would certainly be a better choice to go after either Alisson or Oblak instead of Leno.
