Simon Mignolet has no qualms about being understudy to Alisson for Liverpool.
Jurgen Klopp decided to bring in the Brazilian last summer and he’s been largely fantastic, installing a sense of calm in our backline and helping us to the best defensive record in the Premier League.
As a result, Mignolet hasn’t featured in the top flight or the Champions League, but he understands Klopp’s reasoning.
Interestingly, the Belgian also compared Alisson to Manchester City stopper Ederson, suggesting that while the pair are similar distributors of the ball, our no.1 is superior with his hands.
Mignolet told the Daily Mail: “As a goalkeeper, you learn from the guys you work with.
“He is Brazil No. 1 ahead of Ederson. The main difference between the two is that Ali is probably better with his hands.
“He’s the most complete goalkeeper I’ve seen in my career. He is so calm.
“Not playing is the hard bit, the feeling of being on the pitch at the end when you’ve won is what I miss most.
“I understand how people who don’t play stop doing their work. That is why I push myself every day. I get to the gym at 9 am. The boys must look at me and think, ‘What’s that idiot doing there again?’”
We’d suggest this is probably a fair analysis, although do consider Ederson a superb goalkeeper in his own right – not that he has very much work to do keeping City’s net!
Mignolet will likely depart this summer in the search for first-team football. We can understand this, as he’s 31 and needs minutes in his prime years.
We just hope the club can bring in another backup goalkeeper as professional as he has been this season.