Caoimhin Kelleher has been part of the Liverpool senior set-up since 2019, having joined the academy in 2015. As he plays in his fifth season for the club, he has played a total of 23 fixtures, with only five appearances in the Premier League. If he wants his club and international career to evolve, he must leave Liverpool.
Kelleher has been fantastic when called upon for the Reds, but he will never be the first-choice keeper at the club due to the world-class talent occupying that spot in the shape of Alisson. Kelleher is a talented goalkeeper and has improved while at the club, but he will never be able to achieve world-class status like his Liverpool colleague unless he is playing regularly in a top division for a top club.
Many rumours circulated over the summer about the future of the Irish keeper and about his potential exit from the club to join the likes of Tottenham Hotspur before Guglielmo Vicario joined or to replace David Raya at Brentford, but Kelleher remained at the Merseyside club.
Jurgen Klopp and the fans would have been disappointed to lose such a good deputy in their squad, but both parties would have understood the decision for him to leave. Kelleher has long been touted as having the potential to be a top keeper, but that is all it has been: potential. To realise this and demonstrate just how impressive he is, Kelleher needs to leave Anfield and kickstart his career.
The Cork native has suffered internationally due to his decision to remain a backup keeper at Liverpool, as Gavin Bazunu has become the first-choice keeper for the Republic of Ireland under Stephen Kenny. Despite struggling with Southampton since joining in the summer of 2022 and following the club’s relegation from the Premier League in his first season and the club’s lack of consistency early in the Championship this season, he remains ahead of Kelleher in the Ireland set-up. Should Kelleher join another side in a top division and acquire some form, there would be no argument for him to be on the bench for Ireland as he would undisputedly be the best keeper the Irish have, yet should he remain at Liverpool, he may even slip down the pecking order of the Irish squad as Mark Travers continues to shine at Stoke City.
Kelleher has undoubtedly never done anything wrong in his time at Liverpool, but he has won everything he could with Klopp. He has been able to train and learn from a world-class talent in Alisson, but he has never had a consistent run of fixtures to show how great he actually is.
Where could Kelleher go?
The 24-year-old has had many admirers previously, and this will not have changed; however, having previously waited for the perfect club to join Kelleher, he may need to take a calculated risk in who he joins.
Brentford are still in need of a first-choice keeper following the exit of David Raya, while Inter Milan may be looking for a long-term replacement for Andre Onana as Yann Sommer enters the twilight of his career at 34.
An outside option may be replacing Manuel Neuer at Bayern Munich, as the 37-year-old looks set to retire soon after the EURO 2024 tournament in Germany.
There are plenty of options out there for Kelleher, but he needs to take one soon, as the potential of the keeper may just end up being potential as he sits on the Liverpool bench waiting for the unlikely injury of Alisson to gain some consistent football for the club.
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