KELLEHER’S A KEEPER
Injured Alisson faces spell out & Klopp reveals: I never considered Forest’s bid for Caoimhin
JURGEN KLOPP has admitted Alisson Becker’s hamstring injury is “serious” and “not a short one” – but “not seasonending”.
That makes the importance of Caoimhin Kelleher even greater and more of a relief for Liverpool that today’s opponents Nottingham Forest never made anything better than an unrealistic offer.
Kelleher, 25, will start today at the City Ground but could have been in the home goal if Forest had been successful with a deadline-day bid.
“We spoke about it but for me there was no chance of him leaving, so I was not interested in who was asking,” said Klopp. “It would have had to be proper price to give us a chance of doing something in a difficult market.
“It is not like other goalkeepers moving from A to B for £15million or £20m, that is totally unrealistic and nonsense in how I understood it.”
Liverpool have been without Alisson (right) since illness ruled him out of their win over
Burnley and then he picked up a hamstring injury on the eve of their victory at Brentford.
Kelleher was the Carabao Cup hero last Sunday with key saves to deny Chelsea.
It was another impressive showing from the Irish keeper, who scored in the penalty shoot-out in the 2022 edition of the same final against the same team.
Kelleher has been second in command to one of the world’s best keepers and could no doubt start for the majority of top-flight clubs.
But he has yet to seriously agitate for a move away and has now played five Premier League games – unbeaten in all – this season, five in the Europa and six in the League Cup. He also pulled off some fine saves to deny Southampton in the FA Cup in midweek.
“With a goalkeeper it is slightly different, but it never reached a point where we had a discussion whereby it was, ‘You have to stay, shut up’,” added Klopp, whose side can move four points clear at the top of the table today.
“You would have to ask him exactly what he thought, but now he would be pretty happy with the decision he made in the summer.
“The gap between the first and second goalkeeper cannot be big. There must be quality in that position because the demands are just too big to now play the keeper for four years in a row in all the competitions.”
Dominik Szoboszlai and Darwin Nunez return today after injury, while Wataru Endo and Andy Robertson are also available. But Mo Salah is still out with a hamstring issue.