Impending new arrival Giorgi Mamardashvili has been warned not to take a starting place for Liverpool as a given once he arrives at Anfield this summer.
The arrival of the Georgian international, ranked at no.10 in FourFourTwo’s list of the best goalkeepers in the world right now, was announced last summer, but he has remained at troubled Valencia for one final season before making the move to Merseyside.
That has led to speculation over the future of current Liverpool first choice Alisson amid rumours he may be sold alongside long-standing deputy Caoimhin Kelleher.
Giorgi Mamardashvili tipped for transitional first season at Liverpool amid Alisson challenge
But that supposition may be wide of the mark, as transfer expert journalist Ben Jacobs predicts that Alisson’s place is not automatically going to be lost, telling FourFourTwo on January 13: “I think more likely at this stage that Alisson welcomes the competition and will keep the no.1 spot.
“Mamardashvili will have to fight his way into that Premier League starting line-up over a longer period of time.
“[We’ve seen before where] Liverpool have signed a player for the now and the future, but they keep the player they value, and there’s a transition season or period.
“So there’s no indication that Alisson is going to be kind of instantly dropped, and that means that Mamardashvili has time to acclimatise. Once again, that’s how Liverpool’s recruitment model works
“But what it means is that if you’re Kelleher, you start to realise you’re too far down the pecking order.
“He wants to be a no.1 somewhere, and may have to exit the football club in the summer in order to do that. “
Alisson has struggled with intermittent injuries over the past couple of seasons and been liked with a move to Saudi Arabia.
The Brazilian international arrived at Liverpool in 2018 and has gone on to rank himself in FourFourTwo’s list of the best Premier League goalkeepers of all time.
