Nico Vaesen has revealed his involvement in Liverpool’s decision to bring Adrian to Anfield, in order to free up his client, Simon Mignolet, for a transfer to Club Brugge, as reported by Het Nieuwsblad (via Sport Witness).
The shotstopper’s agent explained that he’d actively worked to engineer a move away from L4 for the Belgian since Loris Karius was favoured for the ill-fated Champions League final in Kiev.
“When Liverpool finally wanted to let him go, we reached an agreement with Club Brugge [August 2019],” the Belgian explained. “But Simon was not allowed to leave until Liverpool had found a successor. In the end we searched for that successor [Adrian], otherwise it would have kept dragging on.”
Playing second fiddle to Alisson Becker – not to mention being overlooked for two Champions League finals – we could hardly blame the former Sunderland goalkeeper for pursuing more playing time elsewhere.
It’s surprising, however, to learn that Adrian’s switch to Liverpool came about with the help of Vaesen.
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With Caoimhin Kelleher rising up the ranks since being given the nod for the Reds’ Champions League group stage victory over Ajax in October, the Spaniard has since been relegated to the club’s third-choice in the pecking order.
In fairness, it was a move that initially paid dividends for Jurgen Klopp’s side, with the former West Ham man filling in for Alisson on 11 occasions in the league, helping us win every single tie.