Alisson has just sent message to new Liverpool goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili

Current back-up goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher had a tempered debut season - but new Liverpool arrival Mamardashvili might not

Alisson has just sent a message to new Liverpool goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili

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Alisson appears to have picked up an ongoing problem that keeps rearing its head. It’s unclear whether his latest hamstring injury is the same one that went in February, but it is nevertheless that muscle type which is sidelining him until at least late November.

That is now three hamstring flare-ups in nine months and four in a year. He already missed the win over Bournemouth due to the issue and sat out 13 Liverpool games upon his setback picked up around Valentine’s Day.

Punching the ground in frustration upon the emergence of his latest issue, Alisson cast a heartbroken figure on the Selhurst Park turf last weekend knowing he could miss a similar amount of matches. He limped out of the ground with his fifth clean sheet in eight outings but also with long-term worries.

He remained injury-free for the two seasons before last, negating too much thought for the back-up due to his arguable status as the world’s best goalkeeper. Having already made his first-team breakthrough a few years earlier, second-choice Caoimhin Kelleher was helped to ease into the senior set-up by Alisson's healthy injury record.

The Irishman has been called upon more regularly over the past 12 months due to Alisson’s setbacks and has seen his reliability rating increase thanks to his noble deputising performances. He’ll now be needed again.

This current scenario is exactly why Arne Slot refused his transfer request this summer and maybe why Giorgi Mamardashvili’s arrival has been held off for a year. Kelleher is a familiar and trusted face within the first-team with pedigree already behind him.

He is the perfect cushion for an Alisson injury during Slot’s first year in charge as the head coach beds into life at Anfield. If he had arrived this summer, Mamardashvili would have been a new face in a pressurised scenario under a new manager vying for fan trust - not necessarily an ideal circumstance for a No.2 at this stage.

February’s injury to Alisson was significant - his longest in terms of Liverpool games - and the medical team and Slot will have noted that. Mamardashvili has meanwhile been given a year to prepare to replace Kelleher as the back-up goalkeeper aged 24.

Of course, the 6ft 6in Georgian will still face the same new-boy situation next season but by then Slot will have become a part of the Liverpool furniture with a year’s worth of credit behind him. And maybe by that time, Alisson might have got to the bottom of his hamstring woes.

But then again, he might not. Alisson has just turned 32 and while goalkeepers tend to have longer careers than their outfield colleagues, the natural ageing process means injuries take a greater amount of time to recover from. There is no guarantee the Brazilian’s muscle issues don’t persist.

Saturday was a clear warning about that, and sends Mamardashvili a message: Don’t necessarily expect a quiet first season. Kelleher is expected to leave next summer having gone public with his desire to be a No.1 elsewhere and Mamardashvili’s scheduled arrival essentially rubber-stamps that.

Kelleher played four senior games during his debut season in the first-team. Mamardashvili might not have such a spare-some introduction should Alisson’s hamstring injuries persist. The message is clear - be prepared to be used more than planned.

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