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Claudio Taffarel, Vitezslav Jaros, Caoimhin Kelleher, Alisson Becker, Harvey Davies and Fabian Otte of Liverpool during a training session at AXA Training Centre on February 11, 2025(Image: Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

The evolution of Liverpool's goalkeeping department continues with the addition of Freddie Woodman from Preston North End.

The 28-year-old will join at the start of July when his contract at Deepdale expires to provide added cover for Alisson Becker, who will face competition from the arrival of £29m Giorgi Mamardashvili this summer.

Woodman is viewed as experienced and dependable cover, should it be needed, for the first team following the loan moves of Vitezslav Jaros and Harvey Davies, who have joined Ajax and Crawley Town respectively this summer.



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Most crucially, though, the former Newcastle United shot-stopper won't take up one of the 17 permitted non home-grown spots in the Reds' squad when they confirm their 25-man group for the Champions League group stages.

Woodman becomes the third goalkeeper that has agreed to move to the Premier League champions this summer following the capture of Georgia international Mamardashvili, a deal that was struck with Valencia last year, and the addition of Armin Pecsi, who signed from Hungarian side Puskas Akademia for £1.5m recently.

The new arrivals will give the goalkeeping team a new look about it at the AXA Training Centre this summer following the exit of Caoimhin Kelleher, whose time with the Reds came to an end when he signed for Brentford at the start of the month in a deal that could rise to £18.5m

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The Ireland international had long been viewed as one of the finest No.2s in the Premier League but had been desperate to kick-start his time as a first choice and having been made to sit tight last summer, Kelleher finally got his move to the Bees after they sold Mark Flekken to Bayer Leverkusen.

The level of turnover in the goalkeeper ranks has been high but current No.1 Alisson Becker will remain first choice for Arne Slot next season.

The Brazil international is viewed inside the AXA Training Centre as the world's finest in his position and such is the level of respect for the 32-year-old that he was even consulted on the deal for Mamardashvili last year.

Liverpool, perhaps weary of how a £29m transfer for another international goalkeeper would appear to Alisson, sought the opinion of their No.1 on his fellow glovesman, with the former Roma keeper giving the pursuit his blessing.

"I think the club needs to prepare for the future," he said last August.

We have so many important players with the contract expiring and the club needs to organise themselves for the future.

"I think it was a good idea, I knew about that (Mamardashvili) before it came out on social media and that is a good message for me because the club cares about what I think."

While Kelleher, who signed from Ringmahon Rangers as a teenager, was always accepting of his status as understudy to Alisson, Georgia star Mamardashvili is believed to be a different sort of personality.

And while the long-term plan is for the 23-year-old to take the mantle from Alisson in time, the new arrival may have designs on doing that sooner rather than later.

That, in essence, should provide high-level competition for a place in goal at Anfield next season.

There's an argument to be made, in fact, that Liverpool will have never before had such depth of quality for a place in goal, certainly in the Premier League era at least, where a £29m international now jousts for a spot in the team against someone who has been widely considered to be inside the world's top five for years.

The three-part series that was aired on official club channels in honour of Alisson this month speaks to the level of admiration and respect that exists for their current No.1 and as a player who is generally seen as having accelerated the pursuit of major honours following his £65m arrival from Roma in the summer of 2018, the Reds' goalkeeper is viewed as one of the greatest in the club's history.

Where he stands alongside the likes of Ray Clemence and Bruce Grobbelaar when he hangs up his gloves will be a healthy debate for supporters but, for now, Alisson remains in situ, ready to face a more intense battle for supremacy from the talented Mamardashvili, whose £29m deal did raise eyebrows when it was initially confirmed a year before his actual move.

At a time when a defensive-minded midfielder was wanted and there was clamour for arrivals in other positions, that a big-money goalkeeper was signed a year ahead of time surprised many.

A more long-term approach is taken to adding the right players at the right time, which is something that has been stressed to the ECHO over a potential deal for a centre-back once Jarell Quansah departs for Bayer Leverkusen.

"They are doing the right thing in my point of view," Alisson added about Mamardashvili's transfer.

"But, on my side, as long as I have my contract here and as long as I am happy here, the club is happy with me, my family is happy here, I will stay."

One of the reasons Liverpool have been keen to safeguard and future-proof their goalkeeping position is the level of muscle injuries sustained by Alisson in recent years.

Across the last two 38-game Premier League terms, the Brazilian has missed 20 games in total and while the unflappable Kelleher ensured the team barely missed a beat, a deputy of inferior quality might have led to more issues.

The looming spectre of the Saudi Pro League must also be considered given there was genuine interest last year, only for the player himself to decide that the summer of 2024 was not the time to upsticks for a new life in the Middle East.

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"I never got to the point where I was talking about wages and things like this, it was just interest," Alisson said of that contact.

When the interest from Saudi came, I cannot close the door on a big deal."

The arrivals of Mamardashvili, Woodman and Pecsi is further proof that Liverpool are looking at their goalkeeping situation in both short and long-term views, but it is the ongoing presence of Alisson that continues to provide reassuring continuity as much of the landscape changes.


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