'I will fight': Liverpool signing Giorgi Mamardashvili warns Alisson over looming Anfield battle | OneFootball

Georgian goalkeeper has his sights set on major Reds role as soon as he arrives from Valencia next summer

Giorgi Mamardashvili has told Alisson that he is joining Liverpool to take his position as the club’s No1 goalkeeper.

The Reds paid around £30million this summer to secure the services of the highly-rated Georgia international, who has remained at Valencia for this season.

"I was attracted by the Liverpool project when the club's representatives met with me to sign me,” the 24-year-old said on Georgian TV’s First Channel.

Ambition: Giorgi Mamardashvili will join Liverpool at the start of next season in a £30m deal

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“I will fight for the starting goalkeeper position, even if the current goalkeeper does not leave the team.”

Alisson, 32, has been linked with a move to the Saudi Pro League, but welcomed the competition when asked about the surprise move for Mamardashvili in August.

“The club needs to prepare for the future,” he said. “We are not going to last forever here. I am getting old! No, for a goalkeeper I am still young, I have a lot of energy and I still have much to give for this club and I want to give to the club as much as I can, but they have to prepare for the future.

“They [Liverpool] have and they will do for different positions as well. We have so many important players with the contract expiring and the club needs to organise themselves.

No hostility: Alisson has welcomed Liverpool’s signing of Mamardashvili

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“I think it was a good idea, I knew about [Mamardashvili] before it came out on social media and that is a good message for me because the club cares about what I think.

“They are doing the right thing in my point of view, but on my side, as long as I have my contract here and as long as I am happy here, the club is happy with me, my family is happy here, I will stay.”

Liverpool’s current back-up ‘keeper Caoimhin Kelleher was less positive about Mamardashvili joining the club, however.

“I made it clear in the last few years that I want to go somewhere and be a number one,” he said last month.

“The club has made that decision to get a goalkeeper which makes it look like they’ve made a decision to go in another direction.

Kelleher is now set for another extended period as Liverpool’s No1 goalkeeper, with Alisson expected to miss around six weeks with a hamstring injury sustained in the 1-0 win at Crystal Palace prior to the latest international break.

Kelleher missed that game due to illness, with third-choice Vitezslav Jaros making a surprise Reds debut off the bench at Selhurst Park. However, the Republic of Ireland international is expected to start Sunday’s huge clash with Chelsea at Anfield.