Liverpool fans know from experience that the spine of the team really is the most integral.
Alisson Becker and Virgil van Dijk leading the backline – score if you can, indeed – Fabinho snapping into tackles ahead of them, and Roberto Firmino fronting the attack, bringing his team-mates effortlessly into play.
Flash forward a couple of seasons, and that once rock-solid vertebrae is starting to suffer from a few slipped discs.
Alisson and Van Dijk are both over 30 now. Fabinho is long gone, with Martin Zubimendi the latest potential successor to rebuff Liverpool’s advances. As for Darwin Nunez, he is neither as consistent or as creative as the glorious Firmino.
At least, with Liverpool closing in on a player who is edging closer and closer to that ‘world-class’ bracket, one link in that once-Premier League winning chain is about to be restored.
Liverpool to sign Valencia star Giorgi Mamardashvili
HITC understands that Liverpool are in talks with Valencia over a potential £30 million deal for goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili.
Nearly a decade Alisson’s junior, the Merseyside giants see Mamardashvili as the Brazilian’s long-term successor with his arrival at Anfield likely to wait until the summer of 2025.
Now, stepping into Alisson’s potentially Saudi-boiund boots – or should that be gloves? – is certainly one hell of a task. But if anyone can succeed arguably the finest shot-stopper of the last-half century, it might well be the imperious Mamardashvili.
Danny Murphy, the former Liverpool midfielder, was left eyes-wide-open and mouth agape after watching Mamardashvili drag Georgia into the knockout stages of this summer’s European Championships.
A couple of truly remarkable saves – including one to deny Diogo Dalot in that 2-0 win over Portugal and a few versus the Czech Republic – showcased so many of the attributes to make Alisson so special. The reach, the positioning, the reactions.
“I saw him live twice. He was absolutely outstanding when I saw him,” Murphy, an FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup winner in 2001, tells talkSPORT (14 August, 12pm. “He had that unbelievable match against the Czech Republic.
“He is 6ft 6ins, agile, a very confident young keeper. That would be a terrific signing.”
Alisson Becker’s long-term Anfield replacement
HITC understands that Liverpool hope to agree a deal now before welcoming Mamardashvili – who narrowly missed out on a move to Bayern Munich – into the fold a year down the line.
A loan spell elsewhere in the Premier League could come before that, with intermediaries approaching Nottingham Forest and AFC Bournemouth to enquire about whether they would be willing to play a role in the development of arguably the planet’s next-best goalkeeper.
Mamardashvili has been likened to Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois.
Another who shielded the net for Los Blancos, meanwhile, feels there is no limit to how high the Georgian can fly.
“He’s a great goalkeeper. He’s a very high-level player,” ex-Madrid and Spain glovesman Santiago Canizares told SportItalia a few months ago.
“And then in addition to that he’s very young. Goalkeepers improve year on year, so I couldn’t tell you what level he could reach. If he keeps improving at the current rate, it’s impossible to say how good he could get.”
“He could be a very interesting target for any European club.”
Valencia have already confirmed, meanwhile, that they are open to selling even their very best players for a fee that would benefit the club.
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