By Jack Lusby, ThisIsAnfield.com
That may be hyperbole, but it sums up the far-from-ideal warmup to his move to Liverpool that Giorgi Mamardashvili is experiencing this season at Valencia.
Real Valladolid’s Karl Hein (2.3) is the only goalkeeper to concede more goals per 90 in LaLiga than Mamardashvili (1.7), with the Arsenal loanee also the only stopper with a worse rate of goals prevented with -8.9 to the Georgian’s -6.1.
Mamardashvili and Hein have the joint-worst save percentage in Spain’s top flight, both with 58.1 percent, with Mamardashvili facing slightly more shots on target per save with 1.73 to Hein’s 1.71.
It isn’t all downcast, with the incoming Liverpool goalkeeper recording the league’s 11th-highest clean sheet percentage, with five shutouts in 23 games (21.7%), but that is considerably lower than Alisson‘s record in the Premier League (38.1%) – which would place the Brazilian third in the less demanding LaLiga.
After two outstanding performances from Alisson in the eventual defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League’s last 16, the prospect of Liverpool changing their No. 1 next season seems baffling.
Alisson will turn 33 in October and is unquestionably prone to injury, but a record-breaking night in the first leg in Paris saw Arne Slot himself describe him as “the best goalkeeper in the world.”
You would be hard pressed to find anyone on the red half of Merseyside who disagrees with that opinion, not least those within Slot’s squad, with captain Virgil van Dijk and boyhood supporter Harvey Elliott both echoing that stance after those heroics at the Parc des Princes.
Few would argue with Jürgen Klopp’s belief that Caoimhin Kelleher is “the best No. 2 goalie in the world as well” either, and that only adds to the uncomfortable situation facing Liverpool in the summer.
Mamardashvili is, no doubt, far better than the current campaign has depicted him to be. Having remained with Valencia for a final season, he was dealt a rough hand with a club carrying major financial issues and in crisis under Rubén Baraja.
Despite finishing ninth in the previous campaign, Baraja was sacked in December after guiding Valencia to just two wins in their first 17 league games, with Mamardashvili playing 14 of those and conceding 22 goals in that time.
There has been an upturn following the appointment of Carlos Corberán, with four wins, three draws and only three losses in his 10 league games in charge so far, but Valencia still find themselves mired in a relegation battle.
The confidence of their goalkeeper has clearly been affected, with 17 goals conceded in nine games under Corberán including a 7-1 thrashing at the hands of Barcelona and an error leading to a goal in the 2-1 win over Real Valladolid last time out.
“I know I’m not in my best moment now,” Mamardashvili wrote on Instagram after that game, with the Spanish press left debating whether the Georgian Player of the Season for 2023/24 – voted above Khvicha Kvaratskhelia – should be dropped for backup Stole Dimitrievski.
Liverpool’s hands were tied when it came to leaving their £29 million signing at the Mestalla for another season, with Mamardashvili reluctant to join immediately due to the presence of Alisson and a loan elsewhere blocked by Premier League rules.
But his preparation for the move to Anfield could not have gone much worse – and the microscope will be on the 24-year-old from his first day at the AXA Training Centre.
Put simply, supporters are unlikely to take kindly to Alisson being usurped as No. 1 and many would argue that Kelleher should be kept in place as the Brazilian’s long-term successor.
“The club made the decision to get another goalkeeper,” was Kelleher’s reaction to the Mamardashvili deal, when speaking in September. “From the outside looking in, it looks like they have made a decision to go in another direction.”
The optics aren’t encouraging and regardless of Mamardashvili’s talent – those within the club’s recruitment staff were convinced a deal was worth pushing through despite any upheaval – he faces an uphill battle to convince those watching on that he is worth the risk of unsettling the best goalkeeper in the world for.
Liverpool’s hierarchy will view the signing as another example of long-term planning and if it comes off it should be applauded as such, with Alisson’s contract set to expire in 2026 and clubs in Saudi Arabia interested.
That is particularly the case given the summer ahead, with Van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold all into the final months of their deals and, if they are to leave, would all need to be replaced in a single transfer window.
Nevertheless it represents a huge roll of the dice for the club in backing Mamardashvili, and we can only hope this will prove his annus horribilis in Valencia before reclaiming world-class form in the elite surroundings of Liverpool.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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