Liverpool’s new goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili has capped off his impressive 2024 by being crowned Player of the Year by the Georgian Football Federation.
The Reds will see Mamardashvili arrive next year after a £29 million deal was agreed with Valencia over the summer, all but spelling the end of Caoimhin Kelleher‘s Anfield career.
Mamardashvili has not hidden the fact that he will “fight for the starting goalkeeper position” when he arrives at the club, even if his competitor is the world-class Alisson.
The 24-year-old is clearly not short on any confidence!
It is been a breakout year for Mamardashvili and his efforts across 2024 have been acknowledged by the Georgian Federation, who crowned the ‘keeper their player of the year on Friday.
He was named Georgia’s best footballer during their annual award ceremony, ending Napoli’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s stronghold on the award that dates from 2020 to 2023.
??Giorgi Mamardashvili wins Georgian Player of the Year award for 2024!?? pic.twitter.com/bgmDYWpkjB
— Georgian Footy (@GeorgianFooty) December 27, 2024
Earlier in the year, Mamardashvili broke an all-time Valencia record for the most consecutive La Liga starts with 69 in a row, before making the second-most saves of any goalkeeper in a Euros group stage match, with 11.
He ended 2023/24 with 13 league clean sheets and finished seventh in the Yashin Trophy this year, an annual award given to the best male football goalkeeper in the world.
Mamardashvili, who is studying English and following the Premier League, has 208 appearances at club and international level combined, and yet he is still only 24.
It has been a year to remember for the Georgian goalkeeper and Liverpool will be quietly pleased by the continued recognition ahead of his arrival at the club next summer.
The 6’6″ tall ‘keeper is renowned as an excellent shot-stopper who is also quick and agile enough to operate as a sweeper-keeper, and he’s already twice shown off his incredible reflexes.
This season so far, he has played 14 times and kept four clean sheets but is currently sidelined with a thigh injury.
