Adrián was “One of Us” From His First Day at Liverpool, Says Gini Wijnaldum

We may have seen the last of Adrián’s extended stay as Liverpool’s number one goalkeeper. Following the international break, Alisson is expected to return to action after missing two months of his team’s successes.

If Alisson wants to make his dramatic comeback from injury against Manchester United at Old Trafford, I support him. But the sight of Adrián sat on the bench, taking up the position he is likely to inhabit for the majority of the season, will be sad.

Adrián arrived at Melwood just before the Premier League season began and within days was thrust into the spotlight against Norwich City on opening weekend. Winning the Super Cup against Chelsea really brought the worldwide clan together but as Gini Wijnaldum reveals Adrián had the confidence of the entire Liverpool squad since day one.

“Since the first day he settled quite well,” said Wijnaldum. “He speaks with everyone and he’s a good person, everyone talks with him.

”You could see that he was not shy. Normally when players come in they always look, ‘Who can I talk to?’ and everything, but he talks with everyone. Before the game, he says what he wants to say.

”Basically since the day he came in he was already one of us.”

Signing the Spanish keeper from West Ham United was a sharp deal by the Liverpool recruitment team. With Simon Mignolet finally achieving his move to back to Belgium, saying goodbye to an ultimately positive but not very extraordinary career as a Red, Klopp needed an experienced professional willing to sit behind Alisson.

Adrián’s skills and mentality would have been sussed out by Liverpool during the transfer process. But few supporters would have predicted the impact Adrián has had on the team since August 9th.

“He’s done a really good job,” Wijnaldum said. “If you see the kind of saves he makes, really important saves during the games.

”He also has a big influence on the results we had.”

Alisson’s return after the break is not a foregone conclusion even if he is desperate to get on the field against United. But with our backup keeper in great form, that’s fine. Imagine saying something like that at any point within the last decade.