Brendan Rodgers’ summer spending spree continued on Tuesday evening with the acquisition of Simon Mignolet from Sunderland. The 25-year-old arrives at Anfield on a long-term deal for a reported fee of £9m, which could potentially rise to £12m.
Mignolet is the club’s fourth signing since the end of the previous campaign and joins Kolo Toure, Luis Alberto and Iago Aspas on Merseyside as Rodgers wastes little time in restructuring his first-team squad. Upon completion of the deal, the Liverpool boss went on to say:
“I am delighted that we have been able to sign one of the top goalkeepers in the Barclays Premier League. Simon will join a club that will give him an opportunity to demonstrate and improve his huge talent.”
The History
The Belgian’s career began in his homeland with local club Sint-Truiden. Rising up through the youth system, Mignolet became first-choice stopper by the age of 18 for the second division side and made 100 appearances over the course of four seasons. Moving to Sunderland in June 2010, he chose the Wearsiders over PSV, FC Twente and Udinese in a deal which cost the club just £2m.
After seeing off the challenge of Craig Gordon for the number one spot in his first season, Mignolet went on to make 90 appearances over three years for the Black Cats and was one of only four keepers to play every minute of the 2012/13 campaign. The 25-year-old – who has saved four of the 16 spot-kicks faced since arriving in the Premier League – has also turned out for his country a total of 13 times.
The Prospects
Ultimately, Mignolet’s Fantasy potential will be determined by the future of Pepe Reina. Although Rodgers has already denied the Belgian has been bought as Reina’s replacement, the common consensus of opinion is that the latter is set to move on, thus ensuring Mignolet’s role as the club’s number one. Certainly, with the World Cup just a year away, it would seem a strange move for Mignolet to make unless he’s been given assurances of regular game time. The former Sunderland man has revealed he’s had several conversations with Rodgers, who was keen to acquire a keeper who would be comfortable with his passing game ethos:
“Back in Belgium, the goalies always train to play with the ball at their feet. We join in most of the time, playing more with our feet than with our hands. I’m used to this. I’ve spoken to him [Rodgers] a few times already and I’m very pleased. He is very ambitious, like I am.”
Looking at last term’s displays, Liverpool stuttered in the first few matches under Rodgers but their defensive progress was marked as the players grew accustomed to the new manager’s tactics. Having conceded 12 times in the first six matches, the Reds shipped just 31 goals in the remaining 32 matches in a run that harvested 16 clean sheets, with 11 at Anfield and five on the road.
While the defensive prospects look enticing for the season ahead, then, the attacking potential offered by full-backs Jose Enrique and Glen Johnson, in addition to Daniel Agger’s eye for goal, remain the most appealing route into Rodgers’ backline. With the trio set to come in around the 6.5 mark in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), however, they’ll be far from budget-friendly – the hope will be that the uncertainty surrounding the number one jersey may just cause Fantasy games to hedge their bets and decide to price Mignolet and Reina a little more favourably and perhaps present us with a bargain. Nevertheless, with rotation pairings between the sticks the most favoured tactic, anything more than 5.5 is likely to force Mignolet out of the picture, regardless of regular game time.
Instead, our attentions may now turn to the club he’s left behind. Kieran Westwood may now get the nod as Paolo Di Canio’s new number one and, having failed to play a single minute last term, there’s a chance that Fantasy games could keep him in the budget bracket, given that he’s yet to establish himself as a first-team regular. If Westwood remains at 4.5, then, and Tim Krul – as expected – drops down to 5.0 after Newcastle’s dire previous campaign, we could be presented with a Tyne-Wear partnership for less than 10.0. The two clubs rotate on a home/away basis over the 38 Gameweeks and with an opening schedule that would read (FUL, WHM, FUL, avl, HUL) in the first five matches, may afford us a potentially prosperous solution to the goalkeeping conundrum for the campaign ahead.
With the likes of Julio Cesar already linked with a move to the Stadium of Light, however, it remains to be seen whether Di Canio is willing to afford Westwood the chance to nail down the chance of a regular role quite yet.
