Even Liverpool supporters must have some sympathy for Simon Mignolet.
He wanted to leave the club at the end of the season regardless of who was brought in by Jurgen Klopp. Mignolet had a plan to be first choice elsewhere and to exit Liverpool five years after joining the club from Sunderland.
It wasn’t a bitter stance, just a professional footballer wanting a transfer and his agent being open about it. Liverpool will have known, but it’s clear they had no intention of helping Mignolet get an exit, more concerned with assisting Loris Karius in any way they could.
After the window closed, Mignolet shared his frustration in the Belgian media, something Klopp made clear annoyed him. But the frustration is understandable, if a player wants out after five years and feels he’s been passed aside so another, Karius, can be helped, just like the German was preferred for the starting position, then it’s going to create at least some anger.
Journalist Eddy Demarez is quoted as saying: “It’s sad that he will be held hostage for another year, because Alisson is number 1. If he is lucky, he may play in the League Cup occasionally, unless they are out of that of course.”
“One consolation is that he will not earn badly, but it is anything but a nice situation for him, he had to hope that he was loaned, but Klopp felt that Karius was longer sold to the supporters, so Mignolet is even more acceptable.
“What strikes me most is that despite all his blunders, Karius can still go to a club like Besiktas. The power of the manager must be enormous, because Klopp must also have seen that the quality in Karius just was not there.”
Another option would have been for Liverpool to keep Danny Ward and see both Mignolet and Karius leave.
