Liverpool are close to completing a deal to sign goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, talkSPORT understands.
The move to sign the 23-year-old from Valencia is worth £34milllion.
However the Georgian won’t link up with Arne Slot‘s side until next season.
Mamardashvili will instead stay with Valencia for the rest of this season before moving to Merseyside in 2025.
Liverpool‘s move comes despite interest from Premier League clubs including Bournemouth.
As a result he becomes Slot’s first signing since replacing Jurgen Klopp as boss.
However as a signing for the future, Liverpool will be keen for more additions this summer.
The Reds have been targeting a new goalkeeper with a view to becoming Alisson Becker’s long-term replacement at the club.
Mamardashvili, who starred between the sticks for Georgia at Euro 2024, is contracted at Valencia for a further three years.
Having signed from FC Locomotic on an initial loan deal in 2021, the youngster quickly established himself as Valencia’s number one goalkeeper.
He has since made 101 appearances for the club in all competitions – missing just one Spanish top-flight match since the 2022/23 term.
Mamardashvili also made Valencia history after making the most consecutive league starts for the club in that time, starting 69 times in a row.
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While signing a goalkeeper is all well and good, Danny Murphy believes that signing a central midfielder is the priority.
“You can’t judge a team signings till the window’s closed,” he remarked. “Big signings and real high-quality players sometimes take a while to get over the line.
“You know what the domino effect does in the transfer market, we’ve seen it many, many times.
“One big one goes from somewhere that knocks on, they will be hugely disappointed that they didn’t get Zubimendi because I think they thought that was over the line.
“They lost out to [Romeo] Lavia and [Moises] Caicedo last year and now they’ve lost out to Zubimendi as well. It’s not great, especially when they need a player in that position.”
