It has now been revealed that Liverpool looked at two alternative goalkeeper targets before snapping up the signature of Giorgi Mamardashvili from Valencia.
Giorgi Mamardashvili has endured a troubling debut season on Merseyside, with the Georgian often looking shaky when thrust into the harsh first-team spotlight.
Indeed, the £29m signing has only kept three clean sheets all season long, from 14 first-team appearances, as he fished the ball out of his net a depressing four times during the sobering 4-0 loss at the hands of a rampant Manchester City in the FA Cup.
Safe to say, he will need to improve in matches to come, as Liverpool will be relying on the ex-Valencia stopper to come good, and put in confident displays, with first-choice keeper Alisson sidelined yet again.
Arne Slot has revealed that the Brazilian will be out of action for some time, as he prepares to come back towards the end of the season, meaning there is nowhere to hide now for a low-on-confidence Mamardashvili.
He will be bought straight back into the deep-end for Liverpool’s upcoming Champions League first leg clash with Paris Saint-Germain, but in an alternate reality the Reds could well have picked up an alternative stopper, rather than the £29m signing they sealed.
A fresh report from the Times has revealed who the reigning Premier League champions had in mind before gambling on Mamardashvili, with the goalkeeper targets in question residing in both France and Portugal.
The two targets Liverpool looked at
There will still be a lot of hope on Merseyside that the 25-year-old can go on to be an assured figure in between the sticks, with Liverpool no doubt purchasing the 37-time Georgia international, with an Alisson heir in mind.
Fingers crossed, therefore, that these are just teething issues that will be sorted out, and Liverpool aren’t made to regret not pursuing other targets instead.
The Times has now revealed that the other keepers on the Anfield shopping list were Lucas Chevalier and Diogo Costa, who plied their trades for both Lille and Porto, when they were assessing their options.
Chevalier has since moved to PSG, so he will face Liverpool very soon, but he could well have been facing his current side if he was the preferred option over Mamardashvili.
Impressively keeping ten clean sheets this season, from 26 games for PSG, the agile number 30 is a case of what could have been if Slot and Co decided to go in a different direction with their Alisson understudy.
Costa remains situated at Porto, where he, too, continues to thrive, with 22 clean sheets picked up this season as the Liga Portugal side’s proud captain.
Of course, Mamardashvili also thrived when he was on the books of Valencia, with 36 La Liga clean sheets under his belt, so he shouldn’t be written off just yet as a complete failure.
The main reason Liverpool took a punt on the Tbilisi-born talent, as per the article, was the fact he “represented better value” than both the Frenchman and the Porto number 99.
After all, Chevalier didn’t arrive at the Parc Des Princes on the cheap, having cost £49m to obtain, which is a steep £20m more than Mamardashvili was signed for.
Ultimately, Slot and Richard Hughes cannot turn back time, now, so they must persist with their number 25.
He could potentially have the last laugh over Chevalier when the 25-year-old and the rest of his teammates descend onto Paris shortly, hoping for a shock win in the French capital.
