Giorgi Mamardashvili has stressed that he is “going to Liverpool to fight for the No. 1 spot,” ahead of the goalkeeper’s £29 million move from Valencia.
Mamardashvili was the second signing of Liverpool’s summer last year, but his switch to Anfield was delayed by 12 months.
Instead, the Georgian remained with Valencia for the 2024/25 campaign, with it understood that he would struggle for minutes with Alisson and Caoimhin Kelleher already at the club.
Speaking to Geo Team after his country’s 3-0 win over Armenia on Thursday, Mamardashvili made it clear he intends to “fight” Liverpool’s No. 1 next season.
“I am going to Liverpool to fight for the No. 1 spot,” he insisted.
“I will go there to train at my best and I don’t know what they will decide afterward. I don’t decide who plays and who doesn’t.”
This is not the first time Mamardashvili has made his ambitions clear, telling Georgian television’s First Channel in October that his sights are set on the first-choice role “even if the current goalkeeper does not leave.”
Alisson has held the starting spot ever since his £65 million move from AS Roma in 2018, and he has been considered one of the best in the world in his position, if not the best.
That status remains, particularly after the 33-year-old’s incredible display against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, which has led to confusion over plans for Mamardashvili.
Change is expected this summer with Kelleher likely to depart, while Alisson will enter the final year of his contract – albeit with an option to extend to 2027.
That has led to suggestions Mamardashvili will immediately take the Brazilian’s place in the side, though Arne Slot will be anticipating a battle for the starting gloves.
There could be echoes of the duel for the No. 1 shirt between Simon Mignolet and Loris Karius in the early years of Jurgen Klopp‘s reign, though the standards are clearly not the same today.
Karius was swiftly installed as first choice soon after his arrival from Mainz in 2016, only to drop back out of the side following a number of high-profile errors.
Klopp later swapped between Karius and Mignolet before the German reclaimed his starting spot – then losing it to Alisson after a concussion-forced calamity in the Champions League final against Real Madrid.
Mamardashvili is certainly more established than Karius was ahead of his move to Liverpool in the summer, though the 24-year-old is enduring a difficult campaign with relegation candidates Valencia.
In all likelihood, Alisson will stay as first choice for 2025/26 with Mamardashvili replacing Kelleher as his backup, with an eventual succession plan in place.
