Adrian tipped to seek Liverpool exit before transfer deadline
Liverpool goalkeeper Adrian has been tipped to try and leave the club before the January transfer deadline on Monday after losing his place as Alisson Becker’s deputy to home-grown stopper Caoimhin Kelleher.
With Adrian guilty of errors and inconsistency again this season, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp opted to turn to Kelleher instead when Alisson succumbed to injury in late November.
Kelleher got the nod for the crucial Champions League game against Ajax at the start of December and kept his place for the follow up fixtures against Wolves and Midtjylland.
When Alisson returned to fitness, the young Irishman kept his place in the squad and dropped to the bench, pushing Adrian out of contention altogether into third choice.
The 34-year-old Spaniard has only been in a matchday squad once since and even that was just to make up numbers on the bench against Crystal Palace because Kelleher was also selected.
Out of contract at the end of the season anyway, Estadio Deportivo claims that Adrian and Liverpool will consider any offers that come before the transfer deadline. However, it does not leave much time and he will almost certainly be leaving Anfield as a free agent by the end of June.
But the Seville-based outlet goes on to explain that his former club, Real Betis, will not be making an offer. Adrian grew up in the city and joined Betis as a youth player at the age of 11. He then played for the club’s C and B teams, before reaching the first-team in 2012, but after only one season as a starter he was poached by West Ham to play in the Premier League.
Betis, who are now led by former Manchester City and West Ham coach Manuel Pellegrini, have experienced something of a goalkeeping crisis.
First choice Claudio Bravo has had a number of injury problems this season, while number two Dani Martin suffered ACL damage at the start of the new year. The club has been left to rely on ex-Wigan and Everton stopper Joel Robles, with two other reserve team goalkeepers making up the numbers.
Betis have been interested in re-signing Adrian in the past, but that won’t be the case this time around.
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