Ex-Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher joined Premier League rivals Brentford in the summer in a deal worth an initial £12.5m
Former Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has opened up on his summer departure from Anfield and why he felt it was the right time to leave after a decade-long association with the club.
The 27-year-old initially joined the Reds’ academy as a youngster from Irish side Ringmahon in 2015. He progressed through the ranks, stepped up to first-team football in 2019, and made his competitive senior debut in a Carabao Cup tie against MK Dons that September.
Over several years, Kelleher established himself as Liverpool’s trusted no.2 behind Alisson. He amassed just shy of 70 appearances across all competitions and played an integral role during the team’s Premier League title-winning campaign last season, as well as the Carabao Cup triumphs in 2022 and 2024.
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Kelleher was also among the substitutes when the Reds lifted the Champions League in 2019, the club’s sixth European Cup. He can also count the 2022 FA Cup and 2019 UEFA Super Cup in his medal haul during his time at Anfield.
Despite being the no.2, Kelleher was regularly called upon in recent campaigns due to Alisson’s ongoing injury struggles. But given his age profile and the arrival of Giorgi Mamardashvili from Valencia, he felt it was the right moment to bring his Anfield career to an end in the summer. In early June, he joined Premier League rivals Brentford in a deal worth an initial £12.5 million.
“(On leaving Liverpool) It was a big decision, to be fair, but the timing was right for me as well,” Kelleher explained on the Ben Foster podcast. “I was there 10 years – started when I was 16 at the Academy, and then all the way through, probably about five years with the first team.
“But I never had any loans or anything like that. So, all my playing experience was Liverpool – mostly as the no.2.
“It was hard leaving, because I’ve got good friendships there and good people are there. But in terms of football, it was probably an easy decision, to be honest.
“(I did notice the media attention) a little bit. When you come in and you play well, that’s exactly what people say straight away (that I need to be playing first team football). But the frustration for me was that people think it’s just straightforward – that I can just leave.
“As if I play well and then I just go into Liverpool and say, ‘Right, I’m going. Let me go.’ It doesn’t work like that.
“That was more the frustration. Of course, I want to be playing every week – that’s just not the way it was. Being a no.2 is hard; you get a few games, and you must do well. But it worked out well for me in the end at Liverpool.”
So far this season, Kelleher has started all 14 of Brentford’s Premier League matches. He has kept two clean sheets in that period, and the Bees sit 13th in the standings with six wins, one draw and seven defeats.
Liverpool, meanwhile, have seen Mamardashvili already making 10 appearances in all competitions as the second-choice goalkeeper due to more injury struggles for Alisson.
The Georgian keeper has started four of the Reds’ five Champions League games this term, as well as a five-game stretch in the Premier League – four of which the side lost as Arne Slot’s side endured a horrendous run of form.
However, he was back on the bench for the 3-0 home defeat against Nottingham Forest, and remained there for the subsequent win against West Ham and draw against Sunderland.
