Liverpool target Simon Mignolet and fret over Daniel Sturridge
• Sunderland goalkeeper seen as replacement for Pepe Reina
• Sturridge likely to miss start of next season with injury
• Sunderland goalkeeper seen as replacement for Pepe Reina
• Sturridge likely to miss start of next season with injury
Email- Andy Hunter
- The Guardian, Sunday 2 June 2013 23.00 BST
The Sunderland goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, here saving at the foot of Tottenham's Gareth Bale, has caught Liverpool's eye. Photograph: Jan Kruger/Getty Images
Liverpool want Simon Mignolet to replace Pepe Reina, should their Spanish goalkeeper depart this summer, and they face further uncertainty in attack with Daniel Sturridge likely to miss the start of next season with an ankle injury.
Reina had been expected to join Barcelona for about £10m until Víctor Valdés reconsidered his intention to leave the Spanish champions with 12 months remaining on his contract. Valdés's U-turn on Friday has thrown the Liverpool goalkeeper's immediate future into doubt, though not killed the deal entirely or the prospect of the 30-year-old moving elsewhere, and Brendan Rodgers is continuing with his search to sign a replacement before the new campaign.
Asmir Begovic of Stoke City has long been linked with a move to Anfield and is under consideration, as is Alex McCarthy at Reading, but it is Sunderland's leading keeper, Mignolet, whom Liverpool have identified as their first choice should Reina leave. The 25-year-old enjoyed an outstanding season at the Stadium of Light and was instrumental in keeping a struggling Sunderland team in the Premier League.
Sunderland would naturally fight to retain the Belgium international, who has swept the club's and supporters' player of the year awards, but Liverpool are hopeful he would be tempted by a move to Merseyside and that he would cost less than the £15m Stoke City want for Begovic.
Liverpool had expected a decision on Reina's future by the end of May and it was only the lure of a return to Barcelona that had swayed him towards a move. Reina is on a lucrative contract at Anfield, believed to be worth more than £100,000 a week, and the uncertainty over his next step is just one issue complicating Rodgers' transfer strategy for the summer.
The Anfield club will not be pressured into selling Luis Suárez to Real Madrid, or any other club, by the disillusioned Uruguay international or his representatives but would consider granting his wish to leave for a club record transfer fee of more than £50m. Even in the unlikely event of Suárez remaining at Liverpool he would not be available to Rodgers for the first six matches of next season due to the 10-match ban he received for biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic in April. And the Liverpool manager's preparations for the new campaign have been further disrupted by serious injury to his second leading striker, Sturridge.
Sturridge was carried off in the first half of England's friendly against the Republic of Ireland on Wednesday following a challenge by Glenn Whelan and immediately withdrawn from the trip to Brazil. Scans have subsequently confirmed Liverpool's worst fears on the extent of the injury, revealing ankle ligament damage, and he, too, is expected to be missing from Rodgers' attack when the next campaign opens.
The Liverpool striker scored an impressive 11 goals in 16 appearances following a £12m move from Chelsea in January and his form, coupled with Philippe Coutinho moving into the centre, enabled the team to cope comfortably without the banned Suárez for the final four games of last season. Liverpool have not yet placed a time frame on Sturridge's recovery but there are concerns he will be out for between three and four months, meaning it could be September before the England international is available.
Rodgers expects to add to his striking options this week by completing a €9m (£7.7m) deal for Iago Aspas, who helped Celta Vigo earn a final-day reprieve from relegation from La Liga with victory over Espanyol on Saturday, but the news on Sturridge and Suárez's discontent represent a serious setback for the Liverpool manager.
