On-loan Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina says he believes he has played his last match for the Reds.
Currently at Napoli, Reina joined back up with former manager Rafa Benitez in an effort to get out from underneath new signing Simon Mignolet on the depth chart.
He says that because of Mignolet, he will likely not play another match for the Anfield faithful.
“At the moment it’s difficult to think about being a Liverpool player next year” said the 31-year-old. “They have a young goalkeeper in Simon Mignolet and the manager prefers him to me,” Reina said. “That’s the reason why I’m here and he will be at the club next year as well. There’s no reason to think I’ll be a Liverpool player from now on but we’ll see where the future takes us.”
Reina said he was blindsided by the swift move to loan him out, but that he’s enjoying the stay in Italy so far.
It did come as a surprise,” he said.
“It was the club who made the move” the Spaniard said. “I was on my holidays and nobody told me anything. Suddenly Napoli called and said they were agreeing terms with Liverpool and Liverpool just rang me two days later and said the same. They probably had their own reasons.
“It’s been a good move so far and I don’t regret what happened. I would have preferred to say goodbye in a different way.”
This isn’t the first time Reina has hit out at his former (well, nearly former) club. After the move he wrote an open letter to Liverpool fans asking them to understand the move wasn’t his decision, although oddly enough he does say he regretted how it went down, despite saying the opposite above.
Reina still has three years remaining on his contract with Liverpool, but he could be off to a place like Barcelona where rumors flew of his arrival this summer, or he could end up staying at Napoli.
He’s gotten off to a fantastic start at the Serie A side. Reina has conceded just four goals in five matches, picking up two clean sheets. He also became the first goalkeeper to save a professional penalty by Mario Balotelli in their 2-1 win over AC Milan just last weekend.
