Speaking to Het Nieuwsblad, Nico Vaesen – Simon Mignolet’s agent – confirmed that he tried to orchestrate his client’s exit from Anfield for over a year.
Vaesen said: ‘We have already worked for more than a year on the preparation of the transfer of Mignolet. After the defeat in the Champions League final against Real Madrid, when Loris Karius was in goal, it had been enough.
‘When Liverpool finally wanted to let him go, we reached an agreement with Club Brugge [August 2019]. But Simon was not allowed to leave until Liverpool had found a successor. In the end we searched for that successor [Adrian], otherwise it would have kept dragging on.’
Interestingly, the 29-cap Belgium international’s agent says that it was Jurgen Klopp’s decision to start Karius in the 2018 Champions League final that proved significant.
Vaesen states that, after this decision, it ‘had been enough’ for Mignolet at Anfield.
Additionally, it is intriguing to hear that he helped identify Adrian as the ex-Sunderland man’s replacement, in a bid to speed up his client’s exit.
At the time, Liverpool had Alisson, Karius and Mignolet all on the books, so it’s difficult to see why they dragged their heels so much over the Belgian’s exit.
He clearly wasn’t going to get much game time, and had stated his intentions to leave.
However, it still took until the next summer for Liverpool to grant the 32-year-old’s wishes.
At least things worked themselves out in the end.
The Reds secured arguably Europe’s best glovesman and found a competent deputy in Adrian who helped win them the UEFA Super Cup.
Also, Adrian’s efforts also allowed Caoimhin Kelleher to continue his development behind the scenes, and he is now a viable first-team option.
It may have taken a while, but Liverpool’s goalkeeping situation is finally looking fairly healthy.
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