Liverpool encouraged to make 'megabucks offer' to tempt Gianluigi Buffon into delaying retirement

Ex-Liverpool striker Stan Collymore has stressed the need for his former club to sign an experienced goalkeeper this summer and even suggested that they should make a lucrative offer to tempt Juventus stalwart Gianluigi Buffon into delaying his potential retirement.

With a lethal attack spearheaded by the trio of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah and an oft-maligned defence boosted by the £75m ($103.1m) signing of Virgil van Dijk from Southampton in January, the lack of a top-quality goalkeeper is now frequently said to be the biggest barrier to Jurgen Klopp's side consistently challenging for the Premier League title.

Simon Mignolet was deposed by Loris Karius as Liverpool's first-choice custodian in January and, while the German has generally impressed since then, rumours regarding a high-profile summer arrival have continued to swirl over recent weeks.

Sky Sports reported that Liverpool were trying to steal a march on the competition to wrap up a deal for £62m-rated AS Roma stopper Alisson, 25, before the next transfer window.

Collymore, though, clearly believes his former employers need a more seasoned campaigner between the posts. He namechecked Arsenal veteran Petr Cech and Manchester City's struggling West Ham United loanee Joe Hart as players that could bring the necessary experience with Karius and Mignolet not quite up to standard, though stated that the duo, now 35 and 30 respectively, "may be just beyond that period to go somewhere like Liverpool".

Juventus captain Buffon, meanwhile, turned 40 earlier this year and has previously indicated that he is likely to retire at the end of the season if the Bianconeri do not win the Champions League, though without confirming his plans outright and insisting there are still "many assessments to be made".

The decision to call time on his record 175-cap international career following Italy's calamitous World Cup play-off defeat to Sweden in November looks set to be temporarily reversed after interim Italy coach Luigi Di Biagio recently claimed that he would likely form part of the Azzurri squad for March friendlies against Argentina and England.

Could Buffon, who has made 643 appearances since joining Juventus from Parma in 2001 and never played domestic football outside of his native Italy, possibly be persuaded into one more challenge before he hangs up his gloves for good?

"Gigi Buffon is talking about retiring at the end of the season," Collymore said. "Why not go and make him a megabucks offer?

"An incredible presence, an incredible footballing icon, to walk into another great football club from Juventus and say right I'm going to have two years here, I'm going to help bring through the next goalkeeping prodigy at Liverpool, and I'm going to help them win the title, what a fitting end to a great career that would be."

Stan Collymore was speaking on behalf of online betting site BetStars. #Callit at BetStars