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Achterberg on Liverpool’s new signing
This is what Liverpool goalkeeping chief John Achterberg said about new signing Marcelo Pitaluga …
“I saw it for the first time on the World Cup team. You’re checking all the goalkeepers and looking at the ages,” he told Liverpoolfc.com.
“You see that he was in the World Cup one year younger than the rest of the squad, so you think it’s worth taking a look because you usually have two goalkeepers of the same age, but if you have someone a year younger, I think it may have some good attributes.
“He was in Fluminense; we have some games to watch, all the other goalkeeping coaches watch it too – Jack [Robinson] and the Mark Academy coaches [Morris] and Taff [Neil Edwards]. And of course I talk to the coach and the rest of the coaching department here.
“In Fluminense we had Allan [on loan], so I talked to Julian [Ward, loan pathways and football partnerships manager] if I saw a bit of him training there. He saw it too and it was also positive.
“I asked Ali to talk to his brother to see how he is doing and how he is doing. Ali talked to his brother and Ali went to train there. We saw a little of the training and the games that he played with the subsidiary in Brazil.
“He was already 16 years old playing in the reserve team there, so you also think they trust him to already play in the reserve team at 16.”
Achterberg added: “Now that he’s here, we have to improve [him]. He is still young, there is no pressure because there is still a long way to go and we don’t want to pressure him because there is still work to be done.
“First of all, you must let him calm down, let him find his way. You need to learn speed, the type of game in England is different than in Brazil, it is much faster and there is more aggression. You also have to calculate all those things to work a little. “
