Caoimhen Kelleher

Caoimhen Odhran Kelleher



Current Club: Brentford.

Previous Clubs: Liverpool, Ringmahon Rangers.

Loan Clubs: N/A.





International: Republic of Ireland 23 caps.

Trophies Won: European Champions League 2018/19. English Premier League 2019/20, 2024/25. UEFA SuperCup 2019/20. English FA Cup 2022. English League Cup 2022, 2024.





Kelleher could be termed as extremely unlucky to have spent a large portion of his career stuck behind the, in my opinion, best goalkeeper in the world, in Alisson Becker. That has limited his chances to cup competitions and while Becker is out injured, which has not really given him much of a chance to get settled in to a lengthy run in goal. Though it did give enough glimpses for him to be admired by many and for Jurgen Klopp to refer to him as 'the best number two in the world'.



Possibly a little hyperbolic, but many back up options are not ones that would ever get considered as good enough to make a move elsewhere in a top 5 league as a first choice player. There are very few back up goalkeepers around that can be as good on the ball as Kelleher has shown himself to be as well. He certainly could have been first choice at club level with most teams, which is why I would term him unlucky.



That is not to say he is perfect, he does have a number of weaknesses. On the ball, he is very comfortable, but his passing is limited to short and medium range passes, long passes rarely hit the target and often end up in touch. Kelleher also takes time to get match sharp when he comes into the team, his first few appearances will see him make silly errors and be caught out a fair bit.



As he settles in, that does improve a huge amount though and he becomes a fairly solid goalkeeper. Maybe it is because at Liverpool he has to stand comparison with the best, but I also think he has a fair few weaknesses as a shot stopper, you see him let in shots that you know Alisson would have saved. It is probably unfair, but that is the yard stick Kelleher has to be measured by and he does not get near the same level.



In fact, I have a few worries over his positioning and his concentration levels. I feel the errors and failure to stop shots are down to those, as he has the athleticism and speed across the ground to do better if he was in the right place to start with. You can see that he has trained with Becker in his 1-on-1 situations, he has that same speed across the ground to allow him to close down the forward too quickly for them to think, often leading to him retrieving the situation.



What he has to develop though is Alisson's aura, that command of the situation that the Brazilian has that immediately puts a forward off when they see it is him. In general his command of the box is poor, particularly when dealing with crosses, which he can tend to flap at. All of these things are problems exacerbated by his lack of regular first team action, it is very likely that the move to Brentford will see his game grow all round and him become the top class goalkeeper a lot of Liverpool fans believe he already is.



This is his chance to step out of the shadow of Becker and make his own mark on the game at last. Kelleher has spent a long time playing back up, at the age of 26 this is probably his last chance to really take to become the main man. His personality suggests he will take this chance and step up, but only time will tell if he left it too late simply because he did not want to leave his boyhood club in the lurch.



It is clear that allowing Klopp to persuade him to stay to help out LFC has had an adverse affect on his career and stopped him being clear first choice at international level as well. Hopefully he has used up the bad luck in his career now and can go on to cement a place as one of the better keepers in the game.



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