Liverpool will not allow Simon Mignolet to leave Anfield this week despite the Belgium international's desire for regular first-team football.
The 30-year-old reiterated at the weekend that he wanted to move and insisted Loris Karius’s loan to Besiktas – a transfer he described as “bizarre” – had not altered his position at Liverpool. However, the club’s position remains that Mignolet will be deputy to the £65m summer signing Alisson for the foreseeable future and he will not be leaving before Fifa’s transfer deadline on Friday.
Liverpool rejected Besiktas’s loan offer for Mignolet before the Turkish club switched their attention to Karius, who signed a two-year loan deal on Saturday that will become a permanent transfer after the second season providing he starts regularly. The Anfield club would entertain only a permanent deal for Mignolet, who failed to agree personal terms with Fulham while Napoli, the keeper’s preferred option, refused to meet Liverpool’s valuation.
Jürgen Klopp would have only the 19-year-old Irish goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher and Kamil Grabara as back-up to Alisson should Mignolet leave and the Liverpool manager does not expect the Belgium's frustrations to impact on his professionalism.
Mignolet told the Belgian publication Het Laatste Nieuws: “I find it bizarre that Karius was loaned while I also had options to be loaned, but for some reason that was not possible. The transfer of Karius doesn’t change anything for me. I have always been clear: I want to play.
“Being No 2 or No 3 makes little difference. Playing minutes is the most important thing. Nobody has said anything to me after the departure of Loris. So I don’t know what my future at Liverpool is. We will see what happens this week.” – Guardian service
