Tottenham and Newcastle have both been looking at a €100 million goalkeeper who now looks set to be on the move this summer
(Image credit: Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
A €100m goalkeeper linked with Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur looks set to leave his club at the end of this season.
Giorgi Mamardashvili has been a standout performer for Valencia in La Liga this season, helping manager Ruben Baraja keep the club in a more or less respectable eighth place.
The 23-year-old took over as Valencia’s starting goalkeeper last season and has retained the shirt in 2023/24, during which he has made 27 La Liga appearances and kept nine clean sheets, including one against Getafe at the weekend. Mamardashvili also wears the No.1 shirt for Georgia, having been capped 14 times, including against Scotland last year for the Euro 2024 qualifiers.
Giorgi Mamardashvili is linked with Premier League giants (Image credit: Ivan Terron/Europa Press via Getty Images)
However, Spanish website Estadio Deportivo has reported that he is “practically a guaranteed sale” this coming summer, with several Premier League clubs having monitored him at various times during his La Liga progression.
Last summer it was reported that he was likely to leave then, with clubs including Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur and Atletico Madrid being linked.
Since then Spurs signed Italian Guglielmo Vicario, who has impressed this season, which would logically make the London side an unlikely destination for Mamardashvili now. However, speculation over where he will end up has ramped up again ahead of this summer transfer window.
Mamardashvili had been watched by Spurs, but they have now signed Guglielmo Vicario (Image credit: Getty Images)
Estadio Deportivo named Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid as teams who have also had a look at him at one time or another. It was previously claimed that Manchester United and Newcastle United also showed interest at some point.
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
One complication is a €100m buyout clause which is reportedly in his contract, though that is expected to simply give Valencia leverage rather than act as any kind of price guide.
Andrew Hankinson is a freelance journalist based in the UK. He has written for GQ, Esquire, Sunday Times, New Yorker, The Athletic, Guardian and FT Weekend. Over two decades he has interviewed many footballers, reported on subjects such as the impact of heading on footballers, and travelled to places like the USA and Saudi Arabia to write about how football is changing around the world.
