Simon Mignolet: New Liverpool Contract 'Incentive' To Continue Improving

Simon Mignolet is determined to embrace the responsibility that comes with committing the next stage of his career to Liverpool after the goalkeeper signed a new deal with the club Monday.

The 27-year-old sealed an extension to his Reds contract at Melwood and immediately sat down with Liverpoolfc.com to explain his ambitions and objectives for the future.

Now midway through his third season on Merseyside, Mignolet has clocked up 122 appearances and ended 2015 with more shutouts than any other ‘keeper in the Barclays Premier League.

But the Belgium international is eager to improve his performance level further and play a crucial role for Jurgen Klopp’s team in the months and years ahead.

LiverpoolFC.com: Congratulations on the new long-term contract – how pleased are you to get this deal done and dusted?

It’s amazing and I have to thank the club for the confidence in me. I’m very pleased that I can be at Anfield and a part of Liverpool for a long future. I’m happy to commit my future to LFC.

LiverpoolFC.com: Why is this the right place for you?

Mignolet: Ever since I arrived here we have been going in the right direction. Also, with the new manager, who has praised me a lot — not only speaking with me personally but also to the outside world — I feel a lot of confidence from him. I’m here for the long-term future now and let’s hope together with the squad and the fans, we can achieve great things. We have to push on and keep improving. At the moment I arrived, three years ago now, I spoke with the goalkeeping coach and everybody at the club about what we could do better and work on. That list is becoming smaller and smaller. But it doesn’t mean that now I’ve signed the contract anything is going to change. We’re going to keep working hard and keep improving and building in the direction we want to go.

LiverpoolFC.com: Was it important for you that now the contract is done, you can focus on continuing that improvement?

Mignolet: Yes, exactly. That’s the main thing. I have learned a lot since I arrived here, playing for a big club like Liverpool. Like I said, at the moment I arrived, we spoke about things we wanted to do better and could do better — that list is getting smaller. We’re working in the same direction to keep going forward. This contract is some sort of incentive to keep doing that. I wouldn’t say I want to work harder or push harder because that would mean in the past three years I wasn’t working at 100 percent. Nothing has changed really. I signed my contract today. This morning, I was in the gym again to do my work and that will be the same for the future.