Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has reiterated his standing that new signing Simon Mignolet has not been brought in to replace first choice goalkeeper Pepe Reina, but to provide competition.
Mignolet completed a £9million move from Sunderland last week, with Reina being linked with a return to Barcelona.
Reina, however, has already come out and welcomed the Belgian international to Anfield.
Meanwhile Rodgers says Mignolet provides Reina and Australian Brad Jones with quality competition in the goalkeeper’s position, something he is keen to have throughout his squad.
“I always felt it was important for us to have competition right the way through the squad, and that includes the goalkeepers,” he said on the club’s official website.
“I spoke to Pepe about this a few months back and told him we wanted to bring in another goalkeeper as real competition.
“I was very open with my goalkeepers and they know the situation.
“Pepe has been terrific here, Brad Jones was excellent when he stood in last year and I felt we needed another one.
“Simon comes in and we’ve got great competition and when you’ve got competition it pushes everyone to perform.
“We obviously lost a young goalkeeper in Peter Gulacsi so we needed three very capable goalkeepers.
“We’ve brought in Simon Mignolet, who’s one of the top young goalkeepers in Europe – he’s shown that at Sunderland over the last few years.
“He’s got great stature and I think he was player of the season at Sunderland and I really think he can improve on that talent.
“He’s part of the Belgian set-up and it’s really their golden era of players so him coming here will hopefully increase his opportunities there also.”
Who do you think will start in goal for Liverpool on the first day of the league season? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, or on Twitter @thisisanfield.
Fan Comments