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Giorgi Mamardashvili will arrive at Liverpool in the summer - but it would reportedly be wrong to assume he will automatically take Alisson's place
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Impending new arrival Giorgi Mamardashvili has been warned not to take a starting place for Liverpool as a given once he arrives at Anfield this summer. The arrival of the Georgian international, ranked at no. 10 in Four Four Two's list of the best goalkeepers in the world right now, was announced last summer, but he has remained at troubled Valencia for one final season before making the move to Merseyside. That has led to speculation over the future of current Liverpool first choice Alisson amid rumours he may be sold alongside long-standing deputy Caoimhin Kelleher. But that supposition may be wide of the mark, as transfer expert journalist Ben Jacobs predicts that Alisson's place is not automatically going to be lost, telling Four Four Two on January 13: "I think more likely at this stage that Alisson welcomes the competition and will keep the no. 1 spot. "Mamardashvili will have to fight his way into that Premier League starting line-up over a longer period of time. "[We've seen before where] Liverpool have signed a player for the now and the future, but they keep the player they value, and there's a transition season or period. "So there's no indication that Alisson is going to be kind of instantly dropped, and that means that Mamardashvili has time to acclimatise. Once again, that's how Liverpool’s recruitment model works The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week. "But what it means is that if you're Kelleher, you start to realise you're too far down the pecking order. "He wants to be a no. 1 somewhere, and may have to exit the football club in the summer in order to do that. " Alisson has struggled with intermittent injuries over the past couple of seasons and been liked with a move to Saudi Arabia. The Brazilian international arrived at Liverpool in 2018 and has gone on to rank himself in Four Four Two's list of the best Premier League goalkeepers of all time. Steven Chicken has been working as a football writer since 2009, taking in stints with Football365 and the Huddersfield Examiner. Steven still covers Huddersfield Town home and away for his own publication, We Are Terriers. com. Steven is a two-time nominee for Regional Journalist of the Year at the prestigious British Sports Journalism Awards, making the shortlist in 2020 and 2023. Wrexham could qualify for Europe, thanks to new route via a cup competition 'I would love to relive walking out at Wembley in the FA Cup final with West Ham when I was captain': Gilly Flaherty reflects on sensational career Big Barcelona wins in El Clasico Four Four Two is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site. ©
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