Premier League club braced for big-money Liverpool bid for ‘superhero’ who’s impressed Carragher

Liverpool are reportedly among several big-name Premier League clubs taking an ‘extensive interest’ in Robin Roefs.

The goalkeeper joined Sunderland last summer ahead of their top-flight return and has quickly endeared himself to Wearsiders and prominent pundits alike.

He’s been hailed as a ‘superhero’ on Roker Report, while Jamie Carragher named the 23-year-old in his midway Premier League team of the season and said that he’s been ‘really impressed’ by the Dutchman (Sky Sports).

Liverpool taking an ‘extensive interest’ in Roefs

According to Football Insider, Regis Le Bris’ side are bracing themselves for offers in excess of £50m for Roefs and are ‘aware of extensive interest’ in their first-choice stopper from Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea.

Sunderland added to their goalkeeping ranks in the final 48 hours of the winter transfer window by signing Melker Elborg from Malmo, who’s described in the report as ‘part of a goalkeeper succession plan’ at the Stadium of Light, should his Dutch counterpart be lured elsewhere in the summer.

How does Roefs compare to Liverpool’s goalkeepers?

Roefs’ performance figures for the season so far back up the lofty praise he’s received, with the 23-year-old’s save percentage of 74.5% placing him among the top 7% of ‘keepers in the current Premier League campaign (Fotmob).

His numbers in terms of clean sheets and goal concession also stand up to scrutiny when compared with Alisson Becker and Giorgi Mamardashvili, as seen in the table below.

The Liverpool hierarchy will have an ideal opportunity to further assess the Dutchman next week when Arne Slot’s side travel to the Stadium of Light for a Premier League fixture under the Wearside floodlights.

Roefs has undeniably been excellent for Sunderland (as Florian Wirtz can testify), but the Reds already have their long-term Alisson successor in place in Mamardashvili, and the Brazilian still has the best part of 18 months on his contract at Anfield.

LFC might need to recruit a backup to (or competition for) the Georgian next year if their current number 1 departs at the end of his existing deal, although even then the signing of Armin Pecsi last summer was surely with a view to him breaking into the first-team squad over time.

Nonetheless, let’s see if anything further comes from these initial rumours of interest in the Black Cats netminder, of whom we’ll get a good glimpse when he faces Liverpool next Wednesday.

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