Liverpool’s recent injury trouble has thrown a number of unexpected heroes into the spotlight.
From Conor Bradley to Jayden Danns, the Reds have seen their young stars really step up to the plate over the past couple of months.
For some of them, this will surely lead to a future in the Liverpool first-team. For others, the heightened profile will allow them to head out on good-level loans or even leave the club altogether.
One who may fall into that final category is back-up goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher. Kelleher has proven his worth of late, filling in impeccably for the injured Alisson Becker. All things being equal, the 25-year-old couldn’t have done a better job.
Having already been subject to interest from elsewhere over the last year, Kelleher is clearly itching to establish himself as a No.1 away from Liverpool. And according to former Manchester United and Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard for NBC Sports, the Reds are going to have to deal with plenty of interest this summer.
“I think this will give him a really good taste of football and think ‘I can play at this level, I can be a number one somewhere’,” Howard explained. “And by the way, it might not be his decision, I think there’ll be a lot of teams knocking on Liverpool’s door saying ‘we want this kid.’ He’s very, very good.”
Howard backs Kelleher transfer
This time last year, Kelleher was inching towards the end of a season that he’d barely been a part of for Liverpool.
With Alisson enjoying a quite stunning campaign, the Irishman played only four times in 2022/23.
This had led to strong suggestions that Kelleher would no longer be at Anfield once the curtain came up on the following season. But having seen him play so little, no team was willing to stump up Liverpool’s asking price.
The Reds were reportedly asking for £15m to sell Kelleher, which nobody seemingly saw as being good value.
Fast forward to the present day, and it feels as though that may be different now. 25, a full international and now with a very, very good body of work behind him, £15m would be a snip.
Liverpool have to be careful of not pricing Kelleher out of his move, though. If they go too high, keep Caoimhin at the club and then barely play him next season when Alisson and Champions League football are back, his value will shoot down again.
It is a bit of a tricky one though, because having seen just how good he can be, Liverpool would also no doubt like to keep Kelleher for themselves.
If Caoimhin himself is keen to stay and return to his back-up role, then why not. But like Howard, we get the feeling that the Ireland international will be on a whole load of clubs’ radars for this summer. Let’s enjoy him while we can.