Kell has put his hand up for Wembley

KLOPP DELIGHTED AT PROGRESS MADE BY RISING STAR CAOIMHIN

CAOIMHIN KELLEHER has told Jurgen Klopp to deal him in for Liverpool’s Carabao Cup final clash with Chelsea.

The Republic of Ireland goalkeeper played a starring role in Thursday’s 2-0 semi-final, second leg win away to Arsenal.

And his flying save to tip an Alexandre Lacazette free kick to safety earned rave reviews from Reds boss Klopp who explained how the “skinny boy from Ireland” has excelled.

The German boss said: “He’s No.2 at Liverpool which is, I would say, one of the highest ratings. I don’t think you can be rated much higher at the age he is.

“We’re more than happy with him, absolutely. This is a John Achterberg (Liverpool goalkeeper coach) project.

“There were a lot of steps to go since I arrived here.

“When I saw him first, a skinny boy from Ireland and standing in this big goal, it was like, ‘OK, it could take a while until he fills it’.

“Since then he has made incredible steps and now he is a top class goalie, definitely. He’s calm like you cannot believe, good with the ball and on top of that he makes incredible saves.

“He enjoys the work with the coaches and the other goalies because what can you do better in this age than to learn from the best goalie in the world Alisson Becker?

“All these kinds of things are really good for him and we are more than happy to have him.”

Ireland legend Shay Given recently urged Kelleher, 23, to leave Anfield on loan in this January transfer window in order to gain regular first team experience.

With Ireland, Kelleher is also second choice behind former Shamrock Rovers star Gavin Bazunu who has profited from loan moves to Portsmouth and Rochdale from Manchester City.

But although Kelleher was previously linked with clubs in Holland, a loan move is not on the cards this month and he will fight for his place.

And the Corkman will be hoping that Klopp turns to him once again for the League Cup decider with Chelsea on February 27.

Quizzed on whether he was hopeful of starting that Wembley final, Kelleher said: “Hopefully, but we’ll see.

“There’s a few weeks now until the final so I’ll keep training hard and see what happens and see if I get the nod.

“It’s a great feeling to reach the final. It’s another final and a final is a final. We’re buzzing.

“This club obviously wants to win trophies and it’s a chance to win another trophy.

“So we’ll go there, give it everything we have and hopefully we can win.”

And on his stunning save (left) at the Emirates Stadium, Kelleher added: “I’m really happy when I can make saves to keep the team in it and keep us in with a chance.

“That save, it was an important moment to keep us at 0-0 and Jots goes and scores for us. I was really happy to make that save.”