Liverpool's Irish goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher moves to Brentford after 10-year stay at Anfield
CAOIMHÍN KELLEHER'S 10-year stay at Anfield has come to an end after the Irish goalkeeper made a reported £18m move from Liverpool to Brentford.
The 26-year-old from Cork joined the Reds' academy in 2015 and made his first team debut four years later against MK Dons in the League Cup.
Kelleher has proven to be a trusted understudy for Alisson Becker but despite impressive cameos and more game time in the last two campaigns, he has been unable to dislodge the Brazilian as the Reds' first choice keeper.
As a result, he has regularly been tipped for a move away from Anfield over the years but appeared willing to stay and challenge Becker and bide his time for the number one spot.
However, the imminent arrival of Valencia stopper Giorgi Mamardashvili on a £25m deal looks to have swayed the Irishman into making the move in search of regular first-team football, with Brentford paying an initial fee of £12.5m.
"Everyone at Liverpool FC thanks Caoimhin for his contribution to the club's recent success and wishes him the best of luck for the future," read a statement from the club.
Kelleher leaves the Reds as a record-holder, having won four penalty shootouts as a Liverpool player, the most of any keeper in the club's history. 'Clever goalkeeper'
Kelleher will replace Mark Flekken at the Gtech Community Stadium, with the Dutch keeper moving to German side Bayer Leverkusen.
"Caoimhín is a young keeper full of talent who has already proven how he can perform in the Premier league as well as Europe," goalkeeping coach Manu Sotelo told the club's official website.
'He is calm and obsessed with improving.
Kelleher celebrates after winning the League Cup with Liverpool against Chelsea in February 2022 (Image: Sebastian Frej / MB Media / Getty Images)
"His best quality is his agility and he is a clever goalkeeper, with positioning and awareness being key elements of his game.
"With us, I'm confident he will achieve the next level in terms of performance and show the potential he has.
"I'm looking forward to working with him." Rise to prominence
Kelleher impressed in the handful of appearances he made in his first two seasons with the Liverpool first team, including keeping a clean sheet on his debut in a 2-0 away win at MK Dons in the League Cup in September 2019.
He also saved a penalty from Arsenal's Dani Ceballos in the shootout win in the following round after a 5-5 draw in normal time and kept a clean sheet on his FA Cup debut against Shrewsbury in February 2020.
The following season, Kelleher kept a clean sheet on his European bow in a 1-0 win over Ajax in the Champions League in December 2020.
He repeated the feat on his Premier League debut six days later, keeping his place in the side as the Reds won 4-0 against Wolves.
The Cork native also made his senior Ireland debut at the end of the season, shutting out Hungary in a friendly in Budapest that ended 0-0.
Kelleher kept a clean sheet on his Ireland debut against Hungary in 2021 (Image: Alex Nicodim / Sportsfile via Getty Images)
However, Kelleher's rise to prominence was boosted by his performances in Liverpool's successful EFL Cup run in the 2021-22 season.
The keeper kept a clean sheet in the third round against Norwich, helped his side win a penalty shootout against Leicester in the quarter-finals and shut out Arsenal in the second leg of the semi-final.
In the final against Chelsea, Kelleher made crucial saves from Christian Pulisic and Romelu Lukaku in normal time before scoring the decisive penalty in the shootout.
However, the keeper continued to be used sparingly by Liverpool, making just one Premier League appearance in the following campaign on the last day of the 2022-23 season.
In the last two seasons he has been given significantly more game time, making 10 Premier League appearances in each campaign and 46 appearances in all competitions in that time.
He played every game in the League Cup as Liverpool again defeated Chelsea in the 2023-24 final and kept goal for eight of Liverpool's 10 games in the Europa League that season.
This campaign, he helped Liverpool to only their second title in 35 years, winning seven of the 10 Premier League games he played in, keeping four clean sheets in the process.
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