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Alisson 'turned down Juventus move in 2015 as he didn't want to be No. 2'

  /  autty

Alisson may be developing into a cult hero at Liverpool for his heroics between the sticks - but his fortunes could have been very different had he not turned down the chance to join Juventus three years ago.

The Brazil international ensured Jurgen Klopp's side made it through to the knockout stages of the Champions League with a brilliant injury-time save from Arkadiusz Milik in the Reds' 1-0 win over Napoli on Tuesday night.

Alisson moved to Merseyside in a £65million move over the summer after an impressive spell with Serie A side Roma.

But the goalkeeper's career could have taken a different turn back in 2015, when he reportedly rejected a move to Juventus.

According to Italian outlet Calcio Mercato, Alisson was a target for Roma three years ago but the Serie A side had already filled their quota of non-EU players.

The goalkeeper's contract at Brazilian team Internacional had only one year left and Juventus reportedly tried to hijack the deal and sign him for as little as €8m (£7.2m).

Calcio Mercato claim, however, that Alisson said no to the move because he knew he would be No 2 behind Gianluigi Buffon - and he didn't want to end up like his compatriot Neto, who moved to Turin and made only 22 appearances across two seasons.

It's reported former Roma director of football Walter Sabatini tried to convince his counterpart at Frosinone to sign him and then sell him to Roma a year later.

But Alisson again rejected the move. He remained in Brazil for another year before joining Roma a year later.

When he moved to the Italian capital he was backup to Wojciech Szczesny. But the Pole joined Juventus a year later, allowing Alisson to become Roma's No 1 and later land a move to England.