Georgia’s Giorgi Mamardashvili saves a shot from Czech Republic’s Adam Hlozek during the Nations League match at the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium in Tbilisi, Georgia. — Reuters
IT was 2021, and goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili was six games into his career at Valencia in La Liga in Spain, a rare example of a Georgian playing for a big club in one of Europe’s biggest leagues.
The player who Liverpool believed could be their long-term No. 1 had come with a fine reputation, but this game, at Sevilla, was unravelling.
With three goals conceded in the first 21 minutes and a humiliating mistake already playing on loop across social media, this was not the welcome he had hoped for.
On the short plane journey home that evening with his teammates, Mamardashvili remained quiet. Those close to him kept their distance when he emerged from the airport. In truth, there was not much to discuss.
Mamardashvili, then 20 and having just moved from Dinamo Tbilisi, would not play again on the first team for almost five months, a long time to stew over a disastrous performance.
Yet the next day, he was a different man.
A mural of the goalkeeper in Batumi, Georgia.
“It’s his special power,” said Mikha Gabechava, a friend and scout.
“To basically forget that something bad has happened. He knows exactly when to press the off switch and refocus.”
It served Mamardashvili, 23, well in the years that followed and should do so in the future when he finally moves to Liverpool: He will spend the next year at Valencia before heading to Liverpool in 2025.
Liverpool’s current No. 1 goalkeeper, Alisson Becker, will be given the opportunity to compete for the starting job, with the long-term future of Caoimhin Kelleher now uncertain.
Mamardashvili’s personality – focused, fearless and resilient – is what seems to set him apart from the rest. Within the Georgian football federation, he is discussed as a generational talent who has all the attributes to become the best in his field.
“Moving to Liverpool will help him kick on even further,” said David Webb, an assistant coach of the national team.
“He’ll probably go on to be one of the top three or four goalkeepers in the world.”
Mamardashvili helps his Valencia teammate Cristhian Mosquera during the La Liga match against Barcelona on Aug 17. — AFP
The bright lights and towering stands of Anfield feel a long way from the tiny Georgian village of Khoni, where Mamardashvili grew up.
His dream was to move to his capital city and play for the biggest team in the country, Dinamo Tbilisi. He trained in a small yard with his father, Davit, a former professional goalkeeper, and there was no backup plan. It was simply football.
At nine, he landed a trial and started to progress at Dinamo, a club with modern facilities that put their best youngsters through school, but as the years wore on, senior opportunities remained out of reach. He went on loan to Locomotive Tblisi, and it was there, under Giorgi Chiabrishvili, that he began to flourish.
“When I arrived, he wasn’t playing, so I gave him the freedom to do two things: one, to make mistakes without any pressure, but also to never kick the ball long, no matter what the scenario,” Chiabrishvili said.
This was a challenge that required time and patience. Mamardashvili had always been known for his work ethic and commitment.
There was frustration when it went wrong, but he never backed away from the process and continued to work on other areas of his game.
“He progressed every day and was not afraid to make mistakes,” Chiabrishvili said. “Soon, his teammates started to struggle to score against him in training, and then the stronger the opponents became, the better he played. What I remember most was how calm we became as a team with him in goal.”
The breakthrough for Mamardashvili came in September 2020 when Locomotive played in the Europa League and beat Dinamo Moscow. Any game against Russian opposition draws huge interest in Georgia, so all eyes were on the team, and the young goalkeeper stood out in Locomotive’s 2-1 victory.
When Locomotive played in Spain against Granada a week later, representatives from Valencia were watching.
The Spanish club were aware of his talent and made a move for him nine months later, initially on loan at the academy before turning it into a permanent deal.
By quirk, it was former Liverpool goalkeepers coach Jose Ochotorena who helped prepare Mamardashvili for his debut when three other senior goalkeepers were out injured at the start of the 2021-22 season.
It was a daunting prospect. Mamardashvili, who is 198.1cm (6’6”), was big enough not to have to worry about physical size, but there were still gaps in his game, and while he was committed to learning Spanish, he was shy in front of his teammates, which caused other problems.
Ochotorena, who helped Jerzy Dudek when Liverpool won the Champions League in 2005, encouraged him to engage and interact with others.
Double training sessions aided his physical transformation, and he kept his place on the team, even when Holland international Jasper Cillessen returned. Ochotorena ironed out creases in his game and worked on his standout strength, shot-stopping.
Now, three years on, Mamardashvili is established as one of Europe’s best young goalkeepers and an idol in his country alongside Napoli attacker Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who also started out at Dinamo Tbilisi.
It is a responsibility he has learned to embrace. In Khoni, there is a mural with his imposing frame worked into the national flag accompanied by the words: “The great Georgian Wall.”
It was his saves in the penalty shootout win over Greece that sealed Georgia’s place in Euro 2024, and his performances at the tournament, especially in the 1-1 draw with Czech Republic, earned him another mural, in Batumi, Georgia.
“Our team feel very safe with him in goal because they know he will come and collect or deal with the situation,” Webb said.
“His work ethic is incredible, and so is his attention to detail. He did so much preparation before the Greece penalty shootout that we just knew they were not going to score all five of their kicks.”
Webb also believes Mamardashvili is ready to step up.
“I’ve had one-on-ones with him to find out more about his personality, and he seems very levelheaded, very settled, very focused on his career, and very ambitious about what he wants to achieve because he certainly came through the hard way,” Webb said.
In 2025, the Premier League will find out if he is ready to take that next step. — NYT
