Republic of Ireland boss Stephen Kenny has revealed that Liverpool youngster Caoimhin Kelleher came close to leaving the club on loan in the summer.
The Irish goalkeeper joined Liverpool in the summer of 2015 from Ringmahon Rangers and has been on the bench for Jurgen Klopp’s side this season.
The Cork-born shotstopper progressed through the club’s Academy ranks and has also been called into the Republic of Ireland senior squad by Kenny for the upcoming round of international fixtures.
And while Kenny believes the youngster ‘needs to get matches under his belt’, he has revealed that Alisson Becker’s injury earlier this season prevented the 21-year-old from joining an unnamed Dutch side on loan.
“Caoimhin Kelleher was exceptional for the U21s. In training, Alan Kelly, our goalkeeping coach, can't believe how good Caoimhin Kelleher is,” he said.
“He hadn’t appreciated that he was actually as good as that. We really need to see Caoimhin Kelleher get matches under his belt, because he is ready to play for us.
“We feel he is good enough to play for Ireland, but he’s not playing matches so it’s an issue.
“He was supposed to go on loan to Holland in the last window in the Eredivisie. When the goalkeeper at Liverpool [Alisson] got injured, that move was pulled on him then.
“He wanted to go on loan, he was ready to play. We certainly would have benefited from that. It’s not easy to play at Liverpool, they’re the world champions at club level.”
While Liverpool goalkeeping coach John Achterberg recently claimed that Kelleher will get his chance to play in the first team sooner than many expect.
He said: "He is a very quiet guy, a calm guy and very down to earth. He is really not a big talker, but he has improved a lot in that area on the field in the last couple of years.
"There can never be enough talking on the pitch, in my opinion, so that is an area he can work on, but I see big improvements in all parts of his game.
“He has become more like a man now and we have high hopes for him. Caoimhin has all the attributes to be a top keeper and maybe he will get his chance to play in the first team at Liverpool sooner than we expect."
