20 Jan 2023 08:29:05
Question for the masses. Caoimhin Kelleher; keep or sell?

Was thinking about his performance at Wolves on Tuesday night and he just exudes calmness. Great with both feet, happy to claim crosses and take the pressure off his defence, great positioning etc. He's a really good keeper.

First time i saw him play was actually live at Stadium MK in 2016, at a friendly between our u21's and their senior side. He was excellent that day and probably second only to Harry Wilson. Could see even as a scrawny 17 year old he had serious talent.

The reason i ask if we should sell, is because we don't really have many saleable assets to help fund a rebuild, but wee do have a second choice keeper who'd probably fetch over £20m. We also have Pitaluga doing really well on loan who could potentially soften the blow. And then of course there is Kelleher himself to consider, who could be the best Irish player of his generation if he gets the chance.

I think if he wants to leave I wouldn't stand in his way, but also it would seem a shame to push him out if he's happy as second choice as we won't get many better. Thoughts all?

1.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 08:49:33
Nobody has any real idea how good Pitaluga is or if he will be anywhere near ready to play as our number 2.

So on that basis I can’t really comment.

As for Kelleher I think he’s cracking keeper and would hate to see him leave. If we could agree some buy back option I suppose it could make sense but otherwise I’d prefer to keep him.

We won 2 cups last season and he played a HUGE role in that.

2.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 08:52:00
Could there not be an option C of a loan move for the lad, maybe to a top end championship club or perhaps up at Rangers, surely McGregor must be towards the end of his playing days.
I know it's missing your point about raising funds, but if it's about the player I think it's time to see if he is going to be the real deal or just a very good back up.

3.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 08:53:21
It’s plain and simple we have to sell him or Alisson this summer, as your rightly point out saleable assets are at a minimum we need to cut the bulk and trim the fat. If we sold alisson we’d get £50m+ and have Kellerher as our goalie and not need to buy one to replace him. That’s £50m towards Jude or sell Kellerher and get £20m towards Jude either way it has to be done. In an ideal world we sell Kellerher and the owners stump up more at their end or we sell others like Phillips tsimikas jones keita matip salah jota fabinho. All of those players are just cash in the bank for us but we need to make a withdrawal cash them all in plus one of the keepers and build the next side.

4.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 08:54:37
Kelleher is our best back up player if you can call him that. It’s just typical he plays in the one position where we don’t consistently need someone. No right or wrong answer here, if at all possible a 2 year loan is the best option for me.

5.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 09:03:24
While it’s a bit out there, i’ve always wondered whether the possibility of doing a Courtois type loan to another club would be viable? Let him ply his trade for a few seasons somewhere else until it’s time to replace Alisson. Then again, I can’t see Ali dropping off anytime soon.

6.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 09:36:50
I think the basis of this thread is the correct one in that the assets who don't play regularly, but who have value, may well be sold to raise funds, so that's Kelleher, Jones, Tsimikas and Gomez. Klopp has already suggested this.
But it does worry me how many posters think Pitaluga's half season in the eighth tier of professional football has prepared him for the number two goalkeeping position at Anfield.

7.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 09:46:40
In an ideal world, sell the lad with a buy back clause at a decent figure.

This way we get a chunk of cash short term to use, we cover ourselves with an option when Ali moves on but if, for what ever reason it doesn't work out then we can look at other alternatives.

Kelleher is too good and still has his whole career ahead of him, so shouldn't be sat around playing second fiddle. To become that top keeper we all expect him to be he needs regular games.

8.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 10:10:49
I agree with WYred, sell the lad but have a buy back clause.

Maybe we can only activate it in 2 years or some other terms to get it done.

We may not have to replace Ali for another 5 years so let Kelleher find a new club and have a career and, if we can, find a way to buy him back in the future.

9.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 10:18:52
Ideally I'd like to see us give him a 2 year loan like chelsea done with curtious years ago, loaned him to atelico for 2 years then took him back to succeed cech if memory serves me right. Unfortunately if fsg don't sell I can't see anything other than having to sell him to fund other transfers.

10.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 10:30:11
Sell or loan with buy back clause. Love the kid but he not yet Alison standard. The pressures of playing week in week out at this level is a lot different to the odd cameo.

11.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 10:30:46
Honestly, I think he's good enough to be number one, his problem is Allison, but I would not be against us building a side for years to come around the likes of Kelleher, Doak, Bajcetic, Ramsay etc, add Bellingham (I know. ) Gvardiol maybe and one or two others a similar age and your in a decent place for a good few years, I know signings wise your always running the risk of sounding like your on football manager but for Klopp to go again and build something new maybe that would be the road to leave us in a good place, or be so excited about the project again that he stays on longer.
I don't know I'm just waffling out loud but I think I'd be more excited seeing that happen than just throwing endless cash at stuff like PSG.
So yeah, if he stayed and Allison left I wouldn't be too worried personally.

12.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 11:09:09
Hasn't Dean Henderson been out on loan from Utd for about the last 7 years, at various clubs. Couldn't we consider doing something similar?

13.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 11:41:00
I would sell, firstly for his own career and secondly because he's one of the few we can generate a good fee from to re-invest. We'll need a new backup goalkeeper, but they would only have to be competent. We were just unfortunate that when we needed one Adrian was the best available, there is always a few decent ones knocking about on free transfers who could do a job. Vicente Guaita might be a decent option.

14.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 12:09:41
He’s a good keeper but had next to nothing to do against Wolves.

15.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 12:23:50
I really like him too, so would love him to stay at Liverpool.
But the most important person in this is the lad himself, what he wants to do.
Take it from that point onwards.

16.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 12:40:39
Loan him out to another club for sure.

17.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 12:46:29
It's up to him but do we need to sell to buy?

18.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 12:56:51
why not do what Chelsea did with Courtois and do a long term loan.

19.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 13:00:04
Keep. The most reliable number two keeper I have ever known at a club.

20.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 13:11:42
To the posters saying “loan him to another club”, what problem does that solve?

He’s not on high wages so it won't materially improve our wage bill.

Generally you don’t get a big loan fee for a player.

He won't be training in our system or under our coaches anymore.

We will lose our backup keeper to another club.

The only benefit of a loan is to Kelleher if he wants to go and play regularly.

From a club perspective I don’t know why we would endorse a loan deal.

21.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 13:15:35
Personally, it's going to be up to him and whether he wants to play second fiddle to Alisson until Ali decides to either leave or decides to pass the gloves on.

I'd love him to stay for all the reasons you mentioned MK, I have no issues with him playing instead of Alisson for any game where Ali isn't available and he'd be a started for most teams but as I say, it's really going to be down to him I would think.

Hopefully he's happy to stay for the moment.

22.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 13:19:48
Ultimately he will want more first team football. So I suspect we sell this summer. I suppose we could insert a first option clause but that would probably lower the fee we get for him.

23.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 13:35:00
Great replies. Enjoyed reading that thread. I do like the idea of a 2 year loan actually. Maybe see if anybody would bite on that at say a £5-10m loan fee. Gets a bit of cash and we get him back in 2 years to possibly replace Alisson. Worked with Courtois didn't it.

Fair point on Pitaluga, JACKMYTTON but it's worth remembering Kelleher never went out on loan once, so when he got his chance for us he had zero experience at any level. It's a catch 22 sometimes. Need experience to get a chance, need a chance to get experience.

24.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 14:20:44
My personal preference would be a loan, like Courtois had at Atelico.

I don't believe we need to sell to buy, I may of course be wrong, but I don't know that as a fact.

Kelleher does have a relatively high sell on value, but he has not cost us a significant amount so there's no 'fees' to be recouped.

Why would the club sanction a loan? Well, because we are dealing with humans, rather than a computer game. If Kelleher isn't playing regularly he won't be getting experience nor international opportunities and he will be pushing for a move. A loan may help keep the player happy, get him highest level experience (if he could go to, for example, another PL team or one of the other top 5 European leagues. So, if the choice is lose him or loan him, I would prefer to loan him.

If he does go, Pitaluga seems to have a very high bar (from comments I have seen online, not personal experience of watching him play) . If Kelleher does go, extending Adrian or getting someone like Ziegler, who has the advantage of being HG due to his time with Man Utd from the age of 16-21, would be the best option. Put them in as No 2, Pitaluga as No 3 and hopefully see Pitaluga take over the No 2 jersey in a season or two.

He's a 'better' age as he will be around 24-25 at the earliest point that I can see Alisson starting to decline.

25.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 15:19:18
Pitaluga plays for Macclesfield who get 4,000 home attendance which is 2,500 more than they used to get when in League 2. This allows them to have the best team in the league, not sure you can really say Pit is good enough or not to be No 2. If he stays next year on loan the league will get harder, so maybe then we could say there's a better chance. This Macc generally win games 3 or 4 nil.

26.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 17:36:58
I think that's a brilliant post Zeddicus.

27.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 17:39:36
Kelleher didn't get any loans and didn't play a competitive game for us until he was 21.

What's your point?

28.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 17:50:25
How much do you expect to get for him anyway? He'll want to leave soon enough. Going to be a top top keeper but we can't hold him back.

29.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 17:53:04
Ideally I'd like to see him loaned out for a couple of seasons and then a decision made on his future.

Certainly the decision as to whether he can succeed Alisson can't be made until he is playing every week and we can see how he deals with it.

30.) 20 Jan 2023
20 Jan 2023 19:26:11
To be fair SR, he HAS played every week for weeks on end during Alisson injuries. It’s on the basis of that, I believe he could. But he will likely be close to 30 by the time happens. A loan would be great, but if not I believe he will want to leave.

31.) 21 Jan 2023
21 Jan 2023 00:43:01
What if he doesn't want to go out on loan?
What if he likes the idea of the security of a five year contract for himself and his family?
It's not all about what is best for Liverpool. It's also about what is best for Kelleher and any clubs that might be interested in him.
He's second choice, here, let him be first choice somewhere else, if that's what he wants.
Players come and go. We owe him nowt and he owes us nowt.