Ahead of the two clubs next Premier League meeting, Chelsea summer signing Estevao Willian explained his recent encounter with Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker
Liverpool are looking forward to a battle with Chelsea after the international break. Finally Arne Slot’s side are to receive a test against a top-half team that the head coach has so often highlighted.
The Reds went into the current break top of the table – one point ahead of both Man City and Arsenal, who took points off one another just weeks before. Slot feels his side are yet to experience the same level of test, but the next stint of the season is littered with them as the Blues, the Gunners, Bayer Leverkusen and Aston Villa are on the horizon.
Key to success in this run will be the form of Caoimhin Kelleher, who after so often speaking of his desire to be first-choice will fill in for the injured Alisson Becker until after the next international break.
He is therefore set to miss at least the next seven matches in all competitions, just as he has missed internationals against Chile and Peru this week. So, it is a story emerging from Chelsea summer signing Estevao Willian about the Reds’ injured goalkeeper from last international break that serves to stoke their rivalry before next weekend’s meeting.
The 17-year-old was called up to Dorival Junior’s senior squad for the first time in September, and explained what he did in training that ‘annoyed’ Liverpool’s No.1.
“In shooting training, I started to hit all the shots and Alisson got a bit angry. He said he was still warming up, that I should wait a little bit. But I took it a bit seriously and scored many goals [against] him,” Estevao told The Guardian with a laugh, admitting: “He took it all in jest, but I hope that next year I can do again against him in [Premier League] matches. We’ll see a lot of each other in England.”
The reason he says next year is because Estevao is not actually a Chelsea player yet. Like Liverpool have done with Giorgi Mamardashvili, the Londoners got in before the rest of Europe’s top clubs and sealed a €57m (£47m) agreement with Palmeiras that will only come into action during next summer’s transfer window.
So when he has turned 18 and officially transferred to England, to fulfil this aim the winger will be hoping Alisson has not been usurped by this summer’s £29m Georgian signing.
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