Brendan Rodgers insisted Simon Mignolet has been brought in at Liverpool to provide competition for Pepe Reina, and not as his replacement.
Mignolet completed a big-money move from Sunderland last month, which has only fed further fuel to the Reina exit fire.
The Spanish international goalkeeper has been continuously linked with a move away from Anfield this summer, with Barcelona looking like the likeliest destination.
However, with Victor Valdes saying he will see out the final year of his contract at the Camp Nou, Reina's switch to Barcelona has been put into question.
Arsenal are another side linked with a transfer for the 30-year-old, who has reiterated his desire to stay and fight for his place at Liverpool, and as far as Rodgers is concerned, he will have both Mignolet and Reina at Anfield come next season.
"I always felt it was important for us to have competition right the way through the squad, and that includes the goalkeepers," Rodgers told the club's official website.
"I spoke to Pepe about this a few months back and told him we wanted to bring in another goalkeeper as real competition. Pepe has been terrific here, Brad Jones was excellent when he stood in last year, and I felt we needed another one.
"I was very open with my goalkeepers and they know the situation. Simon comes in and we've got great competition, and when you've got competition it pushes everyone to perform.
"We obviously lost a young goalkeeper in Peter Gulacsi so we needed three very capable goalkeepers -- and we've brought in Simon Mignolet, who's one of the top young goalkeepers in Europe. He's shown that at Sunderland over the last few years.
"He's got great stature and I think he was player of the season at Sunderland -- and I really think he can improve on that talent.
"He's part of the Belgian setup and it's really their golden era of players. Him coming here will hopefully increase his opportunities there also."
