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Giorgi Mamardashvili has all-but confirmed he is set to start in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup tie against Southampton.
The goalkeeper, who joined from Valencia in the summer, is yet to play a competitive game for Liverpool, so his involvement in the third-round clash at Anfield would mark a debut for the 24-year-old. Arne Slot confirmed he plans to rest the majority of players who have featured heavily in the early weeks of the season, including Alisson. This will almost certainly hand Mamardashvili his first bow for Liverpool.
“I have had to be patient,” the Georgian told Liverpool’s website. “I worked hard and I'm so [excited] to make my debut, my first official game. I'm so happy.”
“It doesn't matter if I play or not, I have to be ready. I work hard every day,” he added.
Mamardashvili has traded a starting spot at Valencia for a back-up role at Anfield this season, but is being primed as Alisson’s long-term heir.
For the time being, he will have to settle for a few opportunities when Liverpool’s no.1 is not available, and in the domestic cup competitions.
Caoimhin Kelleher made six appearances across the FA Cup and Carabao Cup last season and Mamardashvili will hope for even more chances this season.
“I think every competition is important,” he said. “It's one more opportunity to make our fans proud.”
On joining the Liverpool squad, Mamardashvili added: “Really good people. Ali helped me a lot to improve.
“When I was a child, it was like a dream to meet players like Alisson, Virgil [van Dijk] and Mo [Salah]. Now I'm with them and I'm so happy. There are a lot of quality players. I knew it before but what I saw is crazy, it's really crazy.”
Speaking about his plans to rotate the team against Southampton, Slot said: “Yes, there will be a completely changed line-up.
“Same as we did last season in the League Cup. So many games need to be played and our players are able to do so, but once in a while they need a bit of rest.
“We can go through all of them, Wata Endo and a few more,” said Slot when asked if those lacking match rhythm will play against Southampton.
“These are the players that need a game and we're happy that we have one. If we wouldn't have had one, we probably would have arranged a friendly in this week for these players because they need to play games as well to keep them ready whenever we need them.
“We've used quite a lot in the last three games because we thought we needed to keep this energy throughout all three games, but not all of them. And the few we haven't used, it's definitely the perfect moment for them to get playing time.”
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