Kelleher remains at Liverpool for the 2024/2025 season
It was a summer of change at Liverpool as the final whistle of their last Premier League fixture of the 2023/24 season, a 2-0 home win over Wolves, marked the end of Jurgen Klopp’s near nine-year tenure as manager of the club.
The final day of the season is always shrouded with speculation of which players may have played their last match for the club, and on the day both Thiago Alcantara and Joel Matip announced their departure from the club.
Caoimhin Kelleher, who had just enjoyed his most impressive season to date, must have been thinking that this too would be his last time calling Anfield his home as he stood in the guard of honour to celebrate those leaving.
The Irishman had just enjoyed his most impressive season to date, starting 14 consecutive games in 2024 and with an appearance tally of 26 for the season, more than his last four seasons combined.
It seemed obvious that there would be plenty of interest from Premier League teams in making Kelleher their #1 goalkeeper over the summer, and the shot-stopper made clear of his own ambitions to take the next step in his career.
“My main ambition is to be a No 1, it would be great if that happened at Liverpool, but I’m not silly. I know that Ali [Alisson] has been the best goalkeeper in the world for years.” he told the Athletic in late May
“I’ve had such an amazing time at Liverpool. It’s been a crazy journey for me and one that I’ve absolutely loved. I love the club; I love the fans and I have a great relationship with the players and the staff.
“Whether it’s here at Liverpool or somewhere else, I do feel the next step for me is to be a number one.”
Liverpool would soon set a price tag believed to be around £25 million (€30 million) for their backup goalkeeper’s services, but Kelleher would link up with the Ireland camp in June with no news of an imminent transfer.
“I’m at that stage in my career where I need to make that next step and play week in, week out,” he said while on Ireland duty.
July kicked off new Liverpool manager Arne Slot’s first pre-season at the club and with no offers forthcoming, Kelleher became a key part of the early games, impressing with his distribution in a new more possession-focused style of play.
A move became more and more unlikely as August came around, and to make matters worse for the Cork native, Liverpool would in the same month complete the signing of Valencia and Georgia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, for a fee believed to be in the region of €40million.
Kelleher may have had the idea of staying around one more season – with Alisson attracting interest from the Saudi Pro League, 2024/2025 may be his last at the club.
But the signing of Mamardashvili (23), who will not join the club until 2025, means it is now extremely unlikely Kelleher would step up in the event of Alisson leaving the club.
In the final weeks of the transfer window there would be a merry-go-round of goalkeeper movements in the Premier League, with Nottingham Forest who had a bid rejected for Kelleher in January 2024 renewing their interest in the player.
Their creative bid which involved cash plus American goalkeeper Matt Turner was swiftly rejected, with Liverpool sticking to their valuation of the player.
A move that looked so likely at the start of the summer was now not an option as the window shut, and to the disappointment of many Irish football fans, Kelleher will spend another season without consistent football.
Why Liverpool is reluctant to sell (for now)
Despite the signing of Mamardashvili (who is expected to be loaned out when he joins in 2025) Liverpool clearly doesn’t want to lose Kelleher and their price tag is clearly a reflection of that.
To put it plainly, Kelleher is a rare commodity, dubbed “The best number 2 in the world” by former boss Jurgen Klopp following victory in the 2024 Carabao Cup final, he is not a player easily replaced.
His importance to the club is also amplified not only by his home-grown status but by the injury proneness of Alisson, who missed 18 games through injury in 2023/2024.
If we look at the numbers for a minute, the drop-off from Kelleher to Alisson last season was only marginal and did not de-rerail Liverpool’s then title race.
Kelleher prevented 2.15 goals last season, 0.1 prevented per 90 which puts him on par with Alisson and in good standings compared to top Premier League goalkeepers and posts an impressive save percentage of 71.2% across all competitions.
He also posts decent distribution numbers, opting to go longer more often than Liverpool’s current #1 with an accuracy rate of 61.6%% from 8.61 long passes per 90.
These, however, only tell part of the story, as good as an opportunity it was for Kelleher to get his move, Liverpool is under no pressure to sell and is not known to lower their valuation of a player.
Liverpool is one of the few teams in the Premier League that did not have any PSR (profit and sustainability rules) difficulties to worry about, so selling players was not something the club had to consider, additionally, his home-grown status is important for registration.
The club has also seen third-choice goalkeeper Adrian leave in the summer with former St. Pat’s loanee Vitezslav Jaros stepping up to take his place, it is unknown however would Liverpool have trusted him to become the #2 if Kelleher were to leave.
€30 million may seem high for a player who has only made 61 appearances for club and country, but Liverpool will feel it’s a fair offer given the abilities he has displayed with limited minutes and his importance to the club.
Why was there such little interest in Kelleher?
You can refer to my previous line as to why no times have bitten at the valuation Liverpool has floated for Caoimhin Kelleher.
These days risk is minimised so much in the transfer market, and Kelleher has played so little with the exception of 2023/2024 for teams to justify a €30 million outlay on the Cork man.
That fee would put Kelleher just outside the list of the ten most expensive goalkeepers of all time and most Premier League teams (Nottingham Forest and Chelsea excluded who have purchased 12 goalkeepers between them since 2022/2023) would be unlikely to spend that on someone with only 47 club appearances to name.
In comparison, Aaron Ramsdale, a goalkeeper of a similar age but much greater playing experience in the Premier League, transferred from Arsenal to Southampton for €25 million this summer, making Kelleher’s price tag somewhat unrealistic.
The PSR situation in the Premier League further complicated matters, as teams who may have been tempted to bid for Kelleher’s services earlier in the window had bigger issues to deal with, while teams outside of England don’t boast the same financial spending power as those in it.
Perhaps if Liverpool had set a lower valuation for the player, he would have been part of the many transfers of players in his position over the summer transfer window.
In defence of Kelleher and what’s next?
It’s not only Kelleher who is disappointed in the lack of a summer transfer, those within the Ireland camp and certainly the national team supporters were pushing for him to get first-team football.
The Irish national team now finds themselves in a weird situation where none of their three regularly called-up goalkeepers (Caoimhin Kelleher, Gavin Bazunu, or Mark Travers) are set to be the first choice at their club this season.
For Kelleher, this was his best chance to get a move to a good side, especially coming off the back of such a strong display in 2024.
Unfortunately forcing his way out was never going to be an option, not only because he has been at the club since the age of 17 but his backup position means he has little power to do so.
Liverpool is also unlikely to have changed the price if he were to express his unhappiness, they have kept players such as Nathanial Phillips around after years of his price tag not being met and managed to get their value for Sepp Van Den Berg this summer after the player publicly declared the club were pricing him out of a deal.
Kelleher’s contract expires in 2026; therefore, Liverpool would be more likely to offer the Irishman away on a cut-price deal next summer rather than risk him leaving on a free contract.
It does mean unfortunately that Kelleher will not achieve his goal of becoming #1 between the sticks this season unless a bid is made in the January transfer window.
It does come as somewhat of a shock to Irish supporters that no team took the risk on Kelleher this summer as although granted, in limited minutes, he has showed he is of Premier League calibre.
It is a disappointing situation for all except for those in the Liverpool camp who were keen to keep him,
And something that Ireland fans will hope will be rectified sooner rather than later.
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