Mignolet v Reina

Ian Watson weighs up the respective merits of Simon Mignolet and Pepe Reina at Anfield.

Liverpool have set about their transfer business this summer with an obvious determination to avoid the costly mistakes of 12 months ago. Simon Mignolet this week became the club's fourth new arrival of a transfer window that is yet to officially open, and the Belgian is arguably the club's most intriguing signing so far. All we know for sure is that Mignolet is a Liverpool player. The club, as is the fashion these days, confirmed only that the 25-year-old had signed a long-term contract after Sunderland were paid an undisclosed fee. Reports suggest Mignolet could cost the Reds up to £11million - a sizeable sum which sees him become the Premier League's joint-third most expensive goalkeeper. The size of the investment also indicates that Brendan Rodgers sees the Belgian as his number one for the new season - despite what the manager and his new recruit say about Pepe Reina's prospects. Rodgers says he told Reina over dinner before the end of last season that he was planning to add some competition to an area where there was previously none. However, despite the manager's claims of harmony, Reina is unlikely to accept even the prospect of a bench role. Nor do Liverpool want one of their highest-paid players rotting in reserve. Indeed, Mignolet would surely not have moved to Merseyside unless he had received some assurances over his status. With less than a year until the World Cup in Brazil, the Belgian - the first to play for Liverpool - has often spoken of his ambition to be number one for Marc Wilmots' much-fancied side. If he is to achieve that, Mignolet must have an eye on matching his ever-present record in the Premier League last season. Most Liverpool supporters have welcomed the arrival of Mignolet, though those loyal to Reina have questioned whether he is better than what they already have. The simple comparison is that Mignolet was one of the most impressive goalkeepers in the division last season - possibly the best. Reina's performances, however, fell below the level the Liverpool faithful have come to expect. Mignolet was by far the most consistent performer for Sunderland and the Black Cats have him to thank more than anyone else for the fact they remained in the top flight. Despite Sunderland's struggles, the 25-year-old still kept 11 clean sheets. While that statistic suggests the Black Cats' problems were rooted at the other end of the field, Mignolet still had to work for those shut-outs, making 149 saves in the process, which ranks him second only behind the rejuvenated Jussi Jaaskelainen at West Ham. For the purposes of comparing the two Liverpool goalkeepers, stats without context can sometimes be misleading. One of the more telling performance indicators, though, is the ratio of saves to shots the keepers faced from inside the box. Mignolet's 66.4 per cent success rate in this category bettered Reina by 11 per cent.

Premier League 2012-13	Simon Mignolet	José Reina
Team	Sunderland	Liverpool
Appearances	38	31
Minutes On Pitch	3420	2790
Goals Conceded	54	34
Minutes per Goal Conceded	63	82
Clean Sheets	11	14
Saves
Saves	149	73
Saves per game	3.9	2.4
Saves from Inside Box	93	36
Saves from Outside Box	56	37
Saves to Shots ratio	73.4%	68.2%
Saves to Shots ratio (inside)	66.4%	55.4%
Saves to Shots ratio (outside)	88.9%	88.1%
Catches
Punches	39	17
Catches	47	31
Dropped Catches	5	0
Catch Success Rate %	94.5%	100.0%
Passing
Touches	1638	1322
Touches per game	43.1	42.6
Total Passes	746	692
Pass Completion %	41.4%	70.8%
Pass Completion into final third %	36.6%	19.4%
Short Passes Attempted	94	343
Successful Short Passes	68	330
Unsuccessful Short Passes	26	13
Short Pass Accuracy	72.34%	96.21%
Long Passes Attempted	652	349
Successful Long Passes	241	160
Unsuccessful Long Passes	411	189
Long Pass Accuracy	36.96%	45.85%

That said, the demands placed on the Sunderland and Liverpool keepers varied considerably.