Alisson Named Liverpool Vice-Captain but Won’t Wear Armband

Alisson Becker has been confirmed as Liverpool’s new vice-captain – yet Andoni Iraola has already told him he will not be the man wearing the armband when Virgil van Dijk is off the pitch.

The Brazilian has been promoted into the formal hierarchy as Iraola reshapes Liverpool’s leadership group after the departures of Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah. Dominik Szoboszlai and Joe Gomez, the club’s longest-serving player, have also been brought into that inner circle.

But there is a twist.

Under new Premier League regulations, only the captain can speak to the referee about contentious decisions. For Iraola, that makes it a tactical mistake to hand the armband to a goalkeeper.

“It’s not going to be possible that he wears the armband because with the new rule I think there is a big limitation if a goalkeeper wears the armband,” Iraola explained to Alisson.

The logic is simple. If a flashpoint erupts in the opposition penalty area, it is pointless for Liverpool’s captain to be standing 80 yards away. The referee is obliged to explain decisions to the captains; a goalkeeper would either be sprinting the length of the pitch or missing that conversation entirely.

“I had one season with Neto in Bournemouth and then you have to start every game to say a different player that can act as a captain, and this is not viable,” Iraola said. He does not want that confusion at Anfield.

So Alisson carries the title of vice-captain, but not the armband.

Szoboszlai, Liverpool’s standout performer last season, is expected to step in as captain whenever Van Dijk is absent. Alisson, who joined the club in 2018 and is now in the final year of his contract, remains a central figure, even if the optics on matchday say otherwise.

“I wanted him to feel like we value him,” Iraola stressed. “I’ve had enough time and we will have more time to know each other, but I had to explain also the decision about the armband to Ali.

“Because he is a goalkeeper and unfortunately they are putting the rules in a way that there is a lot of disadvantages to having a goalkeeper as a captain.”

The changes arrive after a summer of upheaval. Robertson and Salah, two of the most influential voices and performers of the Klopp era, have gone. On paper, that is a huge chunk of experience ripped out of the dressing room.

Iraola is not panicking.

“We lost a lot in terms of experience, high-level players who have performed so well for so many years here,” he admitted. “But I think it is also a natural thing in clubs.

“I think we have a lot of young players willing to take those minutes and ready to take those leadership roles. Overall, I am very happy with the attitude of the players in the pre-season.”

The armband may sit on Van Dijk’s bicep and, in his absence, on Szoboszlai’s. But in Iraola’s Liverpool, leadership is being built as a shared responsibility – with a world-class goalkeeper at the heart of it, even if the referee never turns to him first.