Football agent Fabrizio de Vecchi has revealed how he once came close to securing a deal for Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson to join Real Madrid.
The Brazilian goalkeeper has established himself as one of the best in world football in recent years, particularly following his world-record move to Liverpool in 2018.
Before then he was the star of the show for Roma, whom he joined for £7.2m from Brazilian side Internacional in 2016.
He went on to make 64 appearances for the Italian side, racking up an impressive record of 26 clean sheets and just 66 goals conceded in his two years there.
Those numbers, coupled with his superb shot-stopping skills and comfort playing out from the back, earned him his move to Liverpool but before then he was regularly linked with some of the biggest sides in Europe.
One of those were Real Madrid, who were heavily linked with a move in 2018 before he ended up at Anfield.
Now De Vecchi has revealed just how close he came close to make the move happen.
“It will seem strange, but I have a lot of affection for a signing that in the end could not be: that of Alisson to Real Madrid,” he told AS.
“The goalkeeper was already playing for Roma, where Walter Sabatini took him, and Ernesto Bronzetti, my mentor, had recently died.
“I would have loved to close that operation: the truth is that I was very close to achieving it.
“Everyone knows that Ernesto carried out many operations between Giallorossi and Madrid: it would have been a nice way to remember him.”