West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini is “very happy” for Adrian, who was the unlikely hero for Liverpool in the Super Cup. Adrian, who left West Ham earlier this season, saved a decisive penalty in the shoot-out to seal the UEFA Super Cup title for Liverpool.
Pellegrini has admitted that he wanted to keep Adrian at West Ham. But the Spaniard, who was a back-up option to Lukasz Fabianski at West Ham, decided to move on at the end of his contract.
Adrian was a free agent right until August 5. Liverpool sold Simon Mignolet to Club Brugge and brought Adrian in as Alisson’s deputy. But Alisson suffered an injury against Norwich City, throwing Adrian into the deep end.
The 32-year-old played the full 120 minutes of the Super Cup in Istanbul, conceding a debatable penalty in extra-time. But he redeemed himself in the penalty shoot-out as he kept Tammy Abraham’s spot-kick to win the game.
Manuel Pellegrini on Adrian
Pellegrini was delighted that Adrian stole the headlines for Liverpool. He spoke very fondly of his former goalkeeper, who only played in cup games for West Ham last season.
As reported by Football London, Pellegrini told his press conference: “Very happy for him because he played a lot of years here at West Ham. I think that he is a very good goalkeeper, for different reasons he couldn’t find an arrangement to continue here but we wanted him here.
“He’s not just a good keeper but for the squad also. He signed for Liverpool and I am very happy for him.”
Adrian will continue between the sticks for a few weeks while Alisson remains sidelined. He has already played more games than he expected and more than he did while with West Ham last season.
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