Caomhin Kelleher has made more appearances this season that ever before at Liverpool but a big decision is looming in the summer
There can’t be many tasks in the Liverpool squad more onerous than the one Caoimhin Kelleher has faced ever since breaking into the first team.
An Academy graduate dislodging an established senior player is difficult enough. Let alone one in the specific position of goalkeeper, where rotation is usually at a bare minimum. But that Kelleher has perhaps the world’s best proponent of the art in Alisson Becker ahead of him underlines the challenge with which the Republic of Ireland international must contend on a daily basis.
Being prepared, though, has long been a cornerstone of Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp, with fringe players and youngsters having drummed into them the requirement to be ready to step in at a moment’s notice.
Such was the case for Kelleher last weekend when, with Alisson Becker taken ill overnight and joining Joe Gomez on the sidelines with flu, the keeper was thrown into the starting line-up for the Premier League visit of Burnley.
Kelleher didn’t let the side down. Indeed, saves at key times from Zeki Amdouni and David Datro Fofana prevented an ultimately comfortable 3-1 victory from becoming a rather more testing affair. And, as a consequence, it gave the goalkeeper some welcome action ahead of the biggest day of his season so far – the League Cup final against Chelsea on Sunday week.
Rhythm, a Klopp watchword, may not quite be as important for a goalkeeper compared to an outfield player, but it still matters. And Kelleher’s appearance against Burnley ensured he didn’t go into the Wembley showdown in what would have been, in terms of games played, his coldest spell of the season.
The rotation between the sticks in cup competitions and the hamstring injury suffered by Alisson in late November means Kelleher hasn’t had to wait more than five games in a row before being handed the gloves this campaign. In fact, the Irishman has started eight of the last 18 matches, 11 of the last 25. When he was the hero in the League Cup final win against Chelsea two years ago, he’d featured in five of the previous 14 games.
Klopp has long regarded the League Cup as “Caoimh’s competition” with Kelleher a regular since making his debut at MK Dons in September 2019. He has made 14 outings in the League Cup – incredibly, only Ray Clemence, Bruce Grobbelaar and David James have featured more often between the sticks in the competition for Liverpool.
Kelleher’s total of 13 appearances this season is already significantly more than his previous highest best tally of eight, with a few more likely between now and the end of the season. And in terms of an obvious number two goalkeeper, not since Mike Hooper in the early 1990s has any accrued more than the 34 managed by Kelleher. Adrian, for context, has made 24 appearances for Liverpool.
Quite whether that tally is enough to convince Kelleher that Liverpool remains the best place to continue his development in the summer remains to be seen. Nottingham Forest were instantly rebuffed in an attempt to sign the keeper in January, but the incoming change behind the scenes at Anfield, not to mention a desire for more regular minutes, could persuade the Irishman to chance his arm elsewhere.
That, though, can wait. Wembley is calling Kelleher once more – and he’s in better shape than ever before.
