Tension is growing at Valencia as Liverpool fail to agree a deal for Giorgi Mamardashvili, leaving some worried they won’t have time to replace him.
That’s according to Plaza Deportiva, who cover the ongoing situation and the ‘bizarre’ deal that has everyone at Valencia a little bit concerned.
They report that Mamardashvili is set to continue at Valencia for the time being as the club’s owner, Peter Lim, is yet to accept Liverpool’s offer for him.
The Reds have so far offered €30m, which was rejected out of hand despite them considering it “out of the market”, and they then made a new €30m plus €5m in variables bid, which Lim is now considering.
While this was all going on, they’ve managed to reach agreement with Mamardashvili over a move, which will initially see him go on loan to Bournemouth for two years.
This is seen as ‘bizarre’ by Valencia, who know that Liverpool can’t sign the goalkeeper this summer then loan him to another Premier League immediately. So, instead, the operation will see them sign the goalkeeper but not make it official until next summer or the year afterwards.
Valencia will then loan him to Bournemouth for two seasons, or perhaps one if Liverpool decide to take him next year instead.
For that to happen the Spanish side will have to accept Liverpool’s offer but they’re yet to do that, creating a ‘certain tension’ at the club for a couple of reasons.
One issue is that Mamardashvili has been forced to return to training with this hanging over him, while the other is that Valencia are growing concerned at the length of the negotiations, which are leaving them with less time and less resources to find a replacement or indeed focus on other signings.
It seems they would prefer to get this over the line, which will need Liverpool to get closer to Lim’s demand for €40m.
