Speaking on the Yours, Mine, Away Podcast, Andy Lonergan has been discussing his stint at Liverpool and Simon Mignolet’s training performances.
Lonergan made the surprise move to Liverpool back in 2019 as the club’s third-choice goalkeeper, and for a short period of time, he worked alongside Simon Mignolet before his departure for Club Brugge.
While Jurgen Klopp let the 34-year-old leave the club back in 2019, Lonergan maintains that the Belgian was utterly brilliant in Liverpool training, stating that he wouldn’t concede a goal in five-a-side matches.
Mignolet was unreal
Lonergan hailed Mignolet’s ability.
“Simon Mignolet, when you talk about goalkeepers that you don’t realise, for me Mignolet was a good goalkeeper, but I got to work with him for a couple of weeks because Alisson was away. I was like ‘oh my god, if he’s number two how good is their number one?’ Because you’d do five-a-side and he wouldn’t concede a goal, he was unreal,” Lonergan said.
Incredible standards
This just goes to show how high the standards set by Alisson Becker at Liverpool have been.
Most would agree that Mignolet was a reliable hand between the sticks for the Reds for a long time, but Alisson has taken that to another level entirely.
The fact that Mignolet is still shining in the Champions League to this day is a testament to his ability, but when all is said and done, no goalkeeper in the world could’ve kept Alisson away from that Liverpool number one spot.
There’s a difference between being a very good goalkeeper and a world-class one, and, sadly for Mignolet, he was competing with a world-class goalie in the shape of Alisson.
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