In another instance of we all knew it was coming and it’s probably best for everyone but it still kinda sucks, Liverpool have reportedly come to an agreement to sell Irish goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher to Brentford FC.
It’s been pretty clear for more than one season that Kelleher is much too good to be sitting on the bench behind one of the world’s greatest goalkeepers, and we unfortunately can no longer keep him to ourselves. Kelleher expressed that he wanted to move last summer, even before Liverpool locked down the services of Giorgi Mamardashvili over a year ago, so the move isn’t entirely unexpected, but again, it still sucks.
Sky Sports reports that Brentford and Liverpool have agreed to deal that would see Kelleher join the Bees for the 2025-26 season with £12.5m paid up front that could rise to £18m with add-ons. While Kelleher moves to Brentford, their current starter Mark Flekken will move on to - wait for it - Bayer Leverkusen for around £11m.
Only once the transfer to Brentford is complete will the Bees and Bayer complete the deal for Flekken, with Brentford determined to complete the signing of his replacement first, but that move is expected to be handled quickly and Kelleher is set to travel to Brentford for his medical assessment on Monday.
There had been multiple rumors that while Liverpool are working out a deal with Leverkusen for Florian Wirtz, the German club would be interested in potential player swaps to replace the abilities they are losing, including potentially Kelleher. While this obviously isn’t a case of a direct swap, it does raise an eyebrow that Leverkusen are benefiting from this deal in a roundabout way as well, and for our part we’ll be keeping our fingers tightly crossed that the Wirtz deal is progressing well.
The window is now open so we’ll likely see more deals being done in this same fashion as Liverpool work quickly to secure the services of Wirtz and others, and unfortunately as well to move on a few players who no longer fit into the system.
Kelleher featured in ten starts for Liverpool this season as Alisson recovered from injury, including crucially saving a penalty from Kylian Mbappé in the Champions League match against Real Madrid. He’s been an incredible number two, and at only 26 deserves to be starting somewhere for a team that could really use his abilities.