Liverpool making Mexico stopper their January contingency plan

The clamour to sign competition for underperforming goalkeeper Simon Mignolet hasn’t been lost on Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers it would seem.

Fresh reports imply the Northern Irishman has identified Mexico’s World Cup stopper, Guillermo Ochoa, as the man who could usurp Mignolet as Liverpool’s number one in January.

A £5m bid is thought to be in the offing.

Ochoa caught the attention of the watching world in Brazil this summer as he sparkled for a resilient Mexico side that were only seconds away from progressing to the quarter-finals against Holland.

One particular save to deny a powerful Neymar header in the group stages, even drew comparisons to Gordon Banks’ now immortalised World Cup wonder save from Pele back in 1970.

Speculation linking the then Ajaccio keeper to several of Europe’s leading lights inevitably followed after the conclusion of the festivities in Brazil, and that’s when Liverpool were first mentioned.

Eventually it was La Liga side Malaga who ended up signing the 29-year-old, but since then the relationship with his new employers has deteriorated rapidly.

Ochoa has not played a single minute for the Spanish outfit in their opening nine games of the season, and is understandably seeking an escape route.

Anfield could well provide the perfect fire exit for the Mexican as it has become abundantly clear that Mignolet’s lack of command in his penalty area is a real source of weakness for last season’s Premier League silver medallists.

The Belgian has only kept one clean sheet in 13 appearances this season, as seventh-placed Liverpool have slid from heavily odds-on to just 19/20 to remain a top-four side come the end of 2014/15.

While defending has been collectively poor from Liverpool, the £10m spent on Sunderland’s former stopper is starting to look like a sizeable overspend.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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