Mamardashvili secures early win over Alisson as Liverpool transfer looks increasingly shrewd | OneFootball

Liverpool’s signing of Giorgi Mamardashvili now looks increasingly shrewd in the wake of news which has emerged on Wednesday evening.

As per The Mirror, the nominations for the various categories in the 2024 Ballon D’Or ceremony have been announced, including the Yachine Trophy for the world’s best goalkeeper of the year.

The Georgian – who recently penned a deal to join the Reds and has been loaned back to Valencia for this season – is among the 10 nominees for that prize, although our current first-choice stopper Alisson Becker has been omitted from the shortlist.

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Liverpool fans may well be left scratching their heads as to how the consistently brilliant Alisson has been overlooked in favour of the likes of South Africa’s Ronwen Williams and Real Madrid’s Ukrainian stopper Andriy Lunin, who was dropped during Euro 2024 after a miserable performance against Romania.

However, it’s a very good portent to see Mamardashvili make the 10-man shortlist, especially ahead of our current number one, and it suggests that the 23-year-old could pose a threat to the Brazilian’s place in the Reds’ starting XI even if both are at Anfield simultaneously.

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The Georgian was exceptional for his country as they reached the knockout stages of the Euros in their first-ever major tournament, and he managed an impressive 13 clean sheets in 37 LaLiga games for Valencia last season, even if his team have had a poor start to the current campaign.

His nomination for the Yachine Trophy will delight the Liverpool hierarchy, who must feel that they’ve done particularly well to snap up the young stopper as Alisson’s long-term successor.

It’s also a nice early win for Mamardashvili to be classed ahead of the man he’s striving to replace by the brains at France Football who decide on the nominees.

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