Liverpool fans won’t need telling that we’re at that stage of the season where injury problems seem to mount up.
While Alisson Becker’s impending return for this evening’s Champions League clash against Girona is most welcome, the Reds ae still without the likes of Federico Chiesa, Diogo Jota, Conor Bradley, Ibrahima Konate and Kostas Tsimikas due to a variety of concerns.
It’s not just those injuries which’ll alarm Arne Slot and the Anfield hierarchy, either, with a body blow from Spain also providing cause for concern on Merseyside.
Mamardashvili suffers injury setback
According to Spanish outlet AS, Giorgi Mamardashvili – who’ll join Liverpool from Valencia in 2025 – suffered a thigh injury in his team’s defeat to Rayo Vallecano at the weekend, in which he played the full 90 minutes.
A post-match scan revealed a muscle tear which is set to sideline him for at least three weeks, meaning that the goalkeeper won’t play again for the rest of this calendar year.
Mamardashvili injury could be a longer-term concern for Liverpool
The injury setback for Mamardashvili won’t concern Liverpool in the short-term, given that he’ll be with Los Ches for the rest of this season, but Slot might be fearful of the potential domino effect of the 24-year-old’s current knock.
With Valencia mired in the relegation zone in LaLiga, Ruben Baraja will obviously want his first-choice goalkeeper back as early as possible, and could run the risk of reinstating the Georgia international before he’s fully recovered.
That may lead to longer-term problems with the affected muscle area, which could impact the Reds once the stopper is at Anfield from next summer.
Liverpool have already had injury issues in the goalkeeping department in recent months, with Alisson only returning now after being sidelined since early October. Caoimhin Kelleher was missing through illness on the day that the Brazilian got injured, necessitating Vitezslav Jaros to be thrown in at the deep end for a senior LFC debut against Crystal Palace.
Let’s hope that Mamardashvili makes a swift recovery and can avoid any further setbacks for the rest of his time at Valencia, and indeed after he moves to Merseyside next year.
