A round-up of the latest Liverpool news as an Anfield flop is backed to be a legend for his country and coach Arne Slot lands an update on Harvey Elliott’s return from injury.
Giorgi Mamardashvili is ready to fight Alisson Becker to be Liverpool’s No1 goalkeeper
Valencia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili will join Liverpool from the 2025/26 season after agreeing to a £29m transfer in August. The 24-year-old has even set his sights on being the No1 goalkeeper at Anfield, even if it means Mamardashvili has to rival Alisson Becker for it.
Liverpool agreed to pay Valencia £25m, plus £4m in add-ons, to secure Mamardashvili after growing enchanted by his performances for Georgia at Euro 2024. The Reds believe he may be their future No1 with Alisson often linked with a transfer from Liverpool to Saudi Arabia.
But even if Alisson remains on Merseyside, Mamardashvili will not hide from the challenge of becoming Liverpool’s No1. The 25-cap international has started his final term at Valencia with three clean sheets to 13 goals conceded in nine outings from their nine La Liga games.
Mamardashvili explained, via quotes from El Desmarque: “I was attracted by the Liverpool project when the club’s representatives met with me to sign me. I will fight for the starting goalkeeper position, even if the current goalkeeper does not leave the team.”
Read more about what Mamardashvili said about competing with Alisson at Liverpool, here.
Liverpool flop Harry Wilson backed to fill Wales legend Gareth Bale’s Cymru void
Fulham winger Harry Wilson was a product of the Liverpool academy but never had a happy time in the first-team at Anfield. The 27-year-old only ever made two senior appearances on Merseyside in cup competitions around a number of loan moves before leaving in July 2021.
The Cottagers paid the Reds £12m to sign Wilson at a point in the Welshman’s career he had never played in the Premier League. After 98 top-flight matches with Fulham, Wilson has 13 goals and 10 assists. He has also now reached 11 goals and 10 assists in 58 caps for Cymru.
Wilson scored his two most recent goals for Wales during the October international break in UEFA Nations League ties with Iceland and Montenegro. Despite the level of opposition, the Liverpool flop has been backed by Wales teammate Sorba Thomas to fill Gareth Bale’s void.
“For me, there is no better player than Harry Wilson to take the reign of the man himself, Gareth Bale,” Thomas told BBC Sport. “For me, he is the best around.
“He is a talented guy, he is a pleasure to be around in the changing room – a happy, bubbly person – [and] he is soon going to be a Welsh legend.”
Read more about what Thomas has said about Wilson filling Bale’s void for Wales, here.
Liverpool expect Harvey Elliott to return from injury at the end of October
Liverpool have been without Harvey Elliott since the September international break after he fractured his left foot whilst representing the England Under-21 squad. But Arne Slot might soon have the 21-year-old available again having returned to group gym sessions in training.
Elliott re-joined group gym sessions at the AXA Training Centre this Monday as the Liverpool midfielder works on his recovery from injury. The Athletic also now reports that Elliott could be available to Liverpool boss Slot by the end of October as the fixture list starts to get busy.
Hopes that Elliott may return to fitness in time for the visit of Chelsea to Anfield on October 20 after the current international break proved to be overly optimistic. But his return to the gym has encouraged Liverpool that Elliott is not far away from being fit to resume playing.
Slot was only able to field Elliott once for seven minutes as a substitute when Liverpool beat Brentford before the midfielder sustained his injury. The Reds tactician elected to leave him on the bench against Ipswich Town and Manchester United in their early top-flight matches.
Read more about the latest update on Liverpool midfielder Elliott’s return from injury, here.
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