Liverpool’s first signing of the summer is a goalkeeper who is not set to join Arne Slot’s squad until 2025, but he is still an addition fans can get excited about.
By Jack Lusby, ThisIsAnfield.com
Liverpool’s crescendo of a final week in the transfer window began with a signing who won’t move to Merseyside until next summer at the earliest.
But their initial £25 million agreement with Valencia for goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, which could rise to £29 million inclusive of add-ons, is a marker of intent from the club’s new recruitment team.
Their first senior arrival from LaLiga since Alberto Moreno and Javier Manquillo in 2014, the deal signals a change of territory with new sporting director Richard Hughes using his contacts in Spain to hunt for talent.
Before news of Liverpool’s interest in Mamardashvili had surfaced, fans were left disappointed by midfielder Martin Zubimendi‘s decision to stay at Real Sociedad, and it is fair to say that a delayed transfer for the Georgian goalkeeper hasn’t sparked much excitement.
That is understandable, given the Reds already have one of the world’s best goalkeepers as their No. 1 in Alisson, along with a player Jürgen Klopp described as “the best No. 2 goalie in the world” in Caoimhin Kelleher.
Mamardashvili was quietly announced as a new Liverpool player on Tuesday night, with the club confirming that he would stay at Valencia until the following summer.
It is then claimed that he will arrive at Anfield to challenge Alisson for the starting spot, with Kelleher’s prospects made clear after admitting his desire to be a No. 1 “at Liverpool or somewhere else.”
Supporters will not want to see the back of Alisson any time soon, and the Brazilian has already pledged his ongoing commitment to the club after rejecting overtures from Saudi Arabia.
But the decision to push for Mamardashvili at this stage shows the kind of succession planning many had hoped would already have been in place when it comes to the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah.
While the club’s previous regime have allowed the contracts of three of their most important players – Van Dijk, Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold – run into their final year, the wheels are already in motion when it comes to Alisson.
There is no sign that Alisson will be forced out – by the contrary, the club hold an option to extend his deal to 2027, which he has confirmed he intends to fulfil – but in landing Mamardashvili earlier, they have future-proofed their squad at an elite level.
Mamardashvili is a name most became familiar with during the summer’s European Championship, having excelled as part of Georgia’s surprise run to the last 16.
No goalkeeper averaged more saves per 90 (7.5) or prevented more goals (4.7) than the hulking stopper who, standing at 6’6″, was the looming last line for Willy Sagnol‘s relentlessly driven side.
That included a Man of the Match performance against the Czech Republic, with his 11 saves in that 0-0 draw the most of any goalkeeper in a Euro group stage clash since Latvia’s Aleksandrs Kolinko in 2004 – and the second-most ever.
After that victory, FotMob‘s Zach Lowy lauded Mamardashvili’s influence on the side, as an almost inevitable presence between the sticks:
“Time and time again, Mamardashvilli continued to bail his team out of trouble and remain poised and alert to the threat, picking his starting positions well, setting his body with time in advance, and taking advantage of his lightning-quick reactions to keep out a goal.
“Even when his backline let him down with schoolboy errors, he was always able to react and get a strong palm to the shot, diverting it into safety.”
But Mamardashvili’s talents will have been no surprise to those within Liverpool’s transfer staff; theirs is a more nuanced approach to recruitment, tracking players for a number of years and often over various moves before any deal is sanctioned.
That will almost certainly have covered the stopper’s entire spell at Valencia so far, and perhaps even further back to his time in Georgia with FC Rustavi and Locomotive Tbilisi.
Spells on loan with those clubs convinced Valencia to negotiate a deal with parent club Dinamo Tbilisi in 2021, and though Mamardashvili initially arrived at Mestalla as fourth choice, an injury crisis saw him swiftly promoted.
Neither he nor Valencia have looked back since, and after his early performances in Spain saw him named in LaLiga’s Discovery of the Season XI for 2021/22, he has gone from strength to strength.
Speaking to This Is Anfield after the transfer was announced, Football Espana editor Ruairidh Barlow enthused: “You’d probably take Mamardashvili over every other ‘keeper [in LaLiga], with the exception of [Thibaut] Courtois.”
Were it not for the superhuman prowess of Real Madrid’s No. 1, Mamardashvili would almost certainly have dominated when it comes to end-of-season awards for goalkeepers.
It is, however, interesting from a Liverpool perspective that their new £29 million signing has more in common as a player with Courtois and Atlético Madrid’s Jan Oblak than he does Alisson.
Mamardashvili does not operate as a sweeper-keeper for either Valencia or Georgia, and instead Barlow explained that he “fits the classic mould of goalkeeper.”
“While he’s learning and becoming increasingly daring, Mamardashvili prefers the comfort of his six-yard box to the brisk, fresh air outside his area,” the reporter detailed.
“Mamardashvili probably looks at goalkeeping as saving his team, rather than proactively preventing chances before they occur.”
Despite this, there is clearly a belief within Liverpool that the “slight hint of anxiousness” he has shown in possession can be coached, as comfort on the ball is paramount to new head coach Arne Slot‘s system.
Given he is still remarkably young for a goalkeeper of his ability and experience, there should be a calm over areas that are perceived as weaknesses at this stage.
The focus should instead be on the club’s ability to land a goalkeeper widely regarded as one of the best young players in his position, if not the best, for around the same fee they brought in with the sales of both Sepp van den Berg (£25m) and Fabio Carvalho (£27.5m) to Brentford this summer.
In ensuring Alisson’s continued loyalty and laying the pathway for his successor a year – or even two if another loan is struck next summer – early, Liverpool could have now cemented their future between the sticks for the next decade.
There may be more fanfare around Federico Chiesa swapping Turin for Merseyside ahead of Friday’s transfer deadline, but Giorgi Mamardashvili is still a signing fans can get excited about.
(Images from IMAGO)
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