Liverpool moved to secure Giorgi Mamardashvili a season in advance, but the alternatives the club considered before landing on the Georgian have now been revealed.
In Arne Slot‘s first summer, Liverpool added just Federico Chiesa to their playing squad, but they also tied up a deal for Mamardashvili to join the following year in a deal worth up to £29 million.
With Alisson still holding the title of No. 1 and Caoimhin Kelleher ready to make the step up, Liverpool scoured the market to bolster their ranks and landed on Mamardashvili.
But the 25-year-old, who will continue to deputise at PSG in the absence of Alisson, was, naturally, not the only goalkeeper the club looked at.
The *Times*‘ Paul Joyce reports the club looked at Porto’s Diogo Costa and Lille’s Lucas Chevalier, who later joined PSG, but felt Mamardashvili “represented better value.”
Costa, 26, was part of Porto’s youth system and has been an ever-present since 2021/22, the last time the club lifted the Primeira Liga title.
He has been named the league’s goalkeeper of the year on three separate occasions and was a starter in Portugal’s Nations League winning campaign last summer.
Chevalier, meanwhile, at the time of Liverpool’s interest was the mainstay for Lille and a young prospect who had shown steady progression but has shown plenty of inconsistency.
The 24-year-old signed for PSG last summer in a deal reportedly worth £48 million, a differential of 49.3 percent compared to what Liverpool spent on Mamardashvili, but has since been displaced from the XI by Matvey Safonov.
All three goalkeepers fit a similar mid-20s profile, marginally younger than Caoimhin Kelleher (27), but all were viewed under the guise of eventually replacing the irreplaceable Alisson.
Liverpool have extended the Brazilian’s contract by a year to commit his future at Anfield to 2027, but concerns remain over his growing injury woes, with the latest keeping him sidelined until the end of April.
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