*Why* Liverpool signed Ármin Pécsi
The Hungary U21 goalkeeper is the latest addition to the already-stacked LFC keeper department.
”We really want to be a proper goalkeeping school in world football. We want to build our own philosophy in goalkeeping, because we all agree it is its own game.” - Jurgen Klopp
With a new headmaster at the helm, yet another exciting goalkeeping prospect has enrolled into the AXA school.
This school's got international students from far and wide. Georgia, Czech, Republic, Poland (three 'students' in Kornel Misciur, Fabian Mrozek and Jakub Ojrzynski) and now Hungary, on the European front.
Alisson Becker's the head boy. Just shy of 300 total appearances in our colours, the Brazilian export's been achieving the top grades in Merseyside for going on seven years now. Albeit he’s a coach, but there’s further Seleção representation in Claudio Taffarel who will be linking up with their new head coach Carlo Ancelotti in the national team, in a role which doesn’t jeopardise his day-to-day LFC commitments.
A new intake of domestic goalies arrived last summer, too. 17-year-old Bailey Hall penned a first professional deal in February after impressing as the number one in the U18 Premier League. We've yet to see 16 y/o, also a first year-scholar, DJ Bernard (Jamaican roots) at that level yet though he was starting in the U17 Premier League Cup.
There's two multiple elite goalkeepers at the club. There's some very fine young talents, in that position, at the club. I pointed out via Substack notes last week that Kornel Misciur's (2023 signing from Hull) efforts were even rewarded with the 'Premier League Scholar of the Year' award-- at the PL Youth Development Awards, held at Wembley.
Have any of these lads ever been nominated for the Golden Boy award, though?
On the surface of it, the rank of 47th may not seem flattering. When I tell you that only three goalkeepers made the cut for the top 100, and Armin Pecsi's the second-placed shot-stopper on the list, that view changes. £1.5m for the second best youth GK prospect in Europe? Can't scoff at that. Especially when you consider that Mike Penders, the only higher ranked position-mate of his, recently signed for Chelsea in a £17m deal.
Pecsi’s a boyhood Red, which of course serves as a nice little bonus. After the deal was concluded, he shared a heartwarming photo on his Instagram of a young him kitted out in the 2007/08 home shirt. The caption was short, simple and inspirational: “keep dreaming.”
Anyways, he’s here on merit.
Being armed with experience in Europe is certainly no bad feat at such a tender age either; that will do wonders for Pecsi. He started all four matches in Puskás Akadémia’s Conference League Qualification campaign as they were eliminated at the final hurdle, in unbelievably cruel fashion, by Fiorentina on penalties. 36 appearances this season, 34 appearances (over half on loan in the nation’s second tier) in the one prior. A good body of evidence there. He’s been around the setup of first team football there since the ripe old age of 16. Was interesting to read that only two Hungarian players aged 23 and under recorded more league minutes (HFD) than Pecsi who amassed north of 2,500.
“Only 17 U21 goalkeepers played 2000+ mins in Europe’s top leagues in 2024/25. Pécsi ranked 4th in shot-stopping efficiency among them. That’s serious potential.” - Budapest Enterprise Agency’s Janos Kele on Twitter
You might recall that Caiomihin Kelleher surprisingly revealed, a few years back, that he originally started out at academy level as a centre-forward. Well, Pecsi’s the same. Until the age of 12, his primary position on the pitch was up front; naturally, Pecsi is extremely comfortable on the ball and adds a lot of value in possession. That isn’t *quite* strikingly obvious in his data yet, though it continues to improve year-in, year-out. In 2024/25, Pecsi ranked in the 66th percentile (goalkeepers only) for progressive passes and successful long passes.
At 19/20 years of age, he was more than an above average passer in his nation’s top flight. Like I said, he’s very proficient with the ball at his feet. Pecsi registered, on average, over 8 long passes per 90 in the league last season with an average pass length of just shy of 35m. Puskas finished 2nd in the table and boast some of the most technically-secure players in the division, it makes sense why some other goalkeepers have higher ball involvement and tend to spray it longer.
He hasn’t been presented with too much opportunity to showcase this, at least on the club front. The same can be said about being a sweeper—Pecsi ranked 7th out of the 12th starting keepers in the Hungarian First Division for box exits.
What Armin is, is this: a sensational shot-stopper. He has prevented the most goals (6.5) in the Hungarian top flight and ranks among the top five goalkeepers in terms of save rate (72.44 %). Hungarian scouts and analysts point to his lightning reflexes and great awareness/positioning as the youngster’s most appealing attributes.
“They [Liverpool] have data on everything, which they outlined in the meetings. It was astonishing how they pay attention to every small detail.”
“Naturally it gives me a lot of motivation that a club like this, with a data team like this, decided on my name.” - Armin Pecsi
At 6 ft 3, he’s tremendous at aerial reaches, too. This is an exceptional leap to deny a seemingly-inevitable goal in Superman fashion here. The 20 y/o placed into the 80th percentile in his (now former) league for aerial contests won.
A Player of the Match display against the country’s leading side. Doesn’t get too much better than that. The first player to move directly from Puskas to a team in the top five European league—you can see exactly why.
There’s one obvious dilemma, with The Athletic’s James Pearce reporting that the immediate ‘Pecsi plan’ sees the Hungarian linking up with the U21s, whose manager Barry Lewtas just departed, in the Premier League 2 setup. So what about Kornel Misciur? I already alluded to the fact he’d picked up the coveted Scholar prize and is highly rated across the entire club; the Scarborough-born stopper started every UEFA Youth League match and was first choice for the twenty-ones last year.
They’re both, clearly, too talented to sit on the bench. It would appear that there’s little to no chance of the new man going out on loan, given the reports emphasising that the club hierarchy view Pecsi’s opportunity to train with Alisson and Mamardashvili as highly profitable for his development.
So, that would probably mean a loan for Misciur? It’s worth mentioning that Premier League rules lift age eligibility rules for goalkeepers in the U18 PL—he’s able to play at that age level until turning 19. That’s not exactly beneficial for him, though; Hall and Bernard were given scholar deals to be our goalies in that competitions. It must be stressed that 18-years-old, in Kornel’s case, is exceptionally young for a goalkeeper. I’d now expect a loan for his services to be on the cards but goalkeepers getting regular first team game time at that age isn’t all that common.
The youngest goalkeeper to start a match in the English Championship last season was 20 years of age. Meanwhile, it’s a similar trend in League One too—just one teenage GK received a start across the entirety of the season.
Hungary’s best goalkeeping talent since Peter Gulasci. Liverpool also hoovered him up too.
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