Soccer

Caoimhín Kelleher’s Anfield days appear to be numbered

Liverpool goalkeeper feels the time is right to become a number one as he seeks to take next step in his career after busy club campaign

Caoimhín Kelleher makes a save to deny Chelsea's Conor Gallagher during the English League Cup final at Wembley. It proved to be Liverpool's last trophy of the Klopp era. Photograph: Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images
Caoimhín Kelleher makes a save to deny Chelsea's Conor Gallagher during the English League Cup final at Wembley. It proved to be Liverpool's last trophy of the Klopp era. Photograph: Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images
Gavin Cummiskey
Sat Jun 01 2024 - 06:00

Amid plenty of doom and gloom surrounding Irish football, a steely-eyed Cork man is primed to make the Premier League his playground. Caoimhín Kelleher could earn Liverpool FC a cool €20 million profit this summer.

That’s how much the 25 year old goalkeeper is currently valued by transfermarkt.co.uk. That’s how high Kelleher’s stock has soared since his heroics in the Carabao Cup final win over Chelsea last February, which proved the last trophy Jürgen Klopp brought back to Anfield.

“He had some nice words for me,” said Kelleher in advance of the Republic of Ireland hosting Hungary at the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday night.

“I was with him for a number of years and he said ‘you became a brilliant goalkeeper in that time’. He is going to follow my career wherever I go. He wants to see me playing and to be happy.”

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Kelleher does not expect to oust Alisson Becker from the Liverpool starting XI next season. But he did prove his worth during 10 Premier League starts when the Brazilian was injured.

“I’m not silly,” he told The Athletic this week. “I know that Ali has been the best goalkeeper in the world for years.”

Kelleher’s advisers choose the media outlet wisely, knowing the sports-arm of The New York Times would reach the Boston headquarters of Liverpool’s parent company Fenway Sports Group. The message was unequivocal but Kelleher delivered it with some class.

A move away from Liverpool, where he has lived since signing from Ringmahon Rangers in 2015, almost happened in the January transfer window, when Nottingham Forest were interested, but Klopp convinced him to stay. Arne Slot, the German’s replacement on Merseyside, has been left in no doubt how his second choice goalie wants the next few weeks to pan out.

“I don’t think it means I’m leaving Liverpool [but after] the season I’ve had, I’ve played a lot of games and had that taste of being a number one, whether that’s at Liverpool or elsewhere that remains to be seen. My main focus at the moment is to be number one.”

That suggests a transfer request for either Kelleher or Alisson is imminent.

“We’ve been together four or five years so we’ve built up a really strong relationship,” said Kelleher of life as the 31-year-old’s understudy.

“Definitely on the pitch we push each other and there is competition to play at our highest level. That relationship has always been good, both of us have always remained professional no matter what the decision is. That’s the main thing, that we are professional and we are pushing for the right thing for the team.”

Kelleher has paid his dues. With Gavin Bazunu recovering from Achilles tendon surgery and Mark Travers late into the Ireland camp due to his wedding, a singular career path has opened up.

“I love playing for Ireland. A big ambition of mine is to be the number one here, obviously that only comes hand in hand when I’m number one at the club as well.

“I think it’s a good moment for myself coming off the back of the season where I’ve played the most games I ever have, my confidence is obviously very high and I think clubs will have been looking as well and seen me play so there’ll hopefully be some interest elsewhere. But yeah, obviously it’s given me a lot of confidence and I think that time is right now.”

Bidding is expected to start at €20 million. Several Premier League clubs would be interested while Kelleher is bound to catch the eye of Champions League sides in Italy, Spain and Germany.

“I don’t know what’s happening yet with Liverpool but I’m open to all options. If I do move, everything has to be right for myself, it has to be the right club, the right thing for myself and that could be in England, it could be abroad; to make the right decision it has to be a good fit for myself most importantly.”

In the meantime, as he told The Athletic, he’ll continue to dominate the darts competitions at the Liverpool training centre and this weekend in the Castleknock Hotel.

“I love darts. My highest check out? I think it was 120. It could be better. I’ll get [170] at some point. I went to the semi-final [at the Ally Pally to watch Luke Littler], managed to get a few days off and head down. It was nice when you’re not playing football to do different things and relax.

“I’m a bit of a sports head to be honest. I love all sports. I like to try to watch anything. [Littler] is a United fan so I don’t expect to hear from him.”

Gavin Cummiskey

Gavin Cummiskey

Gavin Cummiskey is The Irish Times' Soccer Correspondent