Reds No 1 may now have played his final-ever game for the club.
New Liverpool signing Simon Mignolet has revealed that he was not brought to Anfield to warm the substitutes’ bench next season, reports the Mail on Sunday.
The Belgium international finally completed his expected £9 million transfer from Sunderland to the Reds on Friday, and the 25-year-old has claimed that he spoke to Liverpool head coach Brendan Rodgers prior to agreeing to leave the Black Cats regarding exactly what role he would be playing for the club next season.
Liverpool currently have two word-class shot stoppers on their books with long-term keeper Jose Manuel Reina still at the club, despite reported interest in the Spain international from Liga champions FC Barcelona of late.
However Reina’s proposed move back to Barca, who he played for between 2000 and 2002, has since hit the buffers after the Catalans’ current No 1 Victor Valdes performed a dramatic U-turn and decided to stay at Camp Nou for one more year after all rather than leave the club this summer, as had previously been expected.
Mignolet, who played 101 games for Sunderland in a three-year period in the north east, remains unperturbed though, saying: “I had a very positive meeting with Brendan Rodgers before signing for Liverpool. I can’t say what we discussed, and whether there were any assurances about starting games. That’s between us, but it’s fair to say the purpose of this move is not so I can look on from the sidelines.
“The idea, for sure, is that I will play. The aim for me is to have as good a season as I possibly can. I want to at least replicate the form I showed at Sunderland last season, or play even better.
“I know I am taking a risk, going from Sunderland to a club where I could face a real fight for my place, but I’m not scared of a challenge. I showed that when I went from Sint-Truiden to Sunderland three years ago and started competing for the first-team jersey. There will be competition at any club. You have to be ready for that and prepared to work hard to make sure things go your way.”
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