Don’t regret leaving Liverpool for Club Brugge, proclaims Simon Mignolet
Former Liverpool star Simon Mignolet has admitted that he doesn’t regret leaving Anfield last summer despite Adrian’s involvement this season. The Spaniard was brought in to replace Mignolet as back-up to Alisson and has already played a bigger part than Mignolet did in his final two seasons.
That came after Alisson’s early injury with Adrian continuing to deputise after the Brazilian was side-lined for more than two months. However, since Alisson’s return, Adrian has struggled to find a way back into the team with Jurgen Klopp’s men chasing after a Premier League title and the potential chance at not just invincibility but at a potential treble with the FA Cup and Champions League still on the table.
Yet despite that, Mignolet went on to admit that he has no regrets over his move to Club Brugge and Belgium last summer with the Belgian now playing a much larger role. Mignolet also added that he would have eventually found himself in the same situation as he was in earlier and that was not a situation that anyone wants to be in with him struggling to get a look into the team.
“I know what everyone was thinking, ‘Simon has made a big mistake. He’ll regret leaving Liverpool now.’ But no, that wasn’t the case. I had thought everything through. I could have stayed at Liverpool. I would have played in the domestic cups and in other games if ‘Ali’ got hurt. But I also knew that Ali is such a good keeper that regardless of how well anyone did while he was out, he would go straight back into the team when he was fit again,” Mignolet told the Athletic.
“Yeah, I probably would have played 10 to 15 games this season but then I would have found myself in the same situation as before. I wanted to be somewhere where I could be important for the team, both in the dressing room and on the pitch week in, week out.”
The Belgian has made some impact since signing from Liverpool with no goalkeeper in Europe keeping more clean sheets than Mignolet. Furthermore, despite only arriving in August of 2019, the former Liverpool man went on to win the Belgian League’s Goalkeeper of the Year for 2019. It’s an award that showcases just what regular football can do for the 32-year-old and he went on to admit that while he was concerned about the move, that has since dissipated.
“Yeah, of course. Being honest, if you had asked me a year ago, I wouldn’t have said that I saw myself moving to the Belgian League. But they offered me a five-year contract and Champions League football. On a day-to-day basis, nothing has changed for me. The training ground is the best standard I’ve ever known. It’s better than Melwood in terms of facilities. Of course, Liverpool will have better themselves when they move this summer.
“Bruges are a big club. They’re actually too big for Belgian football. There’s been some talk about bringing together the best teams in Belgium and Holland to create a new league. I’ve been surprised by how high the standard is here. Gent are in the last 32 of the Europa League too,” he added.
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