Brentford have signed goalkeeper, Caoimhin Kelleher from Liverpool in a £18m transfer.
Kelleher’s move has brought a ten-year spell at Liverpool to an end after Brentford fought off reported competition from West Ham and newly-promoted Leeds to secure his signature after heavy speculation over his future in recent seasons.
Thomas Frank’s Bees will pay an initial £12.5m fee but £5.5m in add-ons could see the total fee rise to £18m having signed Kelleher to replace Mark Flekken who has left for Bayer Leverkusen.
Kelleher has signed a five-year contract to June 2030 in West London with the Bees holding a club option to extend his contract for a further year until June 2031.
Following confirmation of his transfer, Kelleher was “buzzing” to make the move having felt that the timing was right to depart Anfield for the sake of his career and can’t wait to achieve fresh ambitions. .
“I felt for my own career that the time was right for me to go, to be a no.1 and to play every week.
“When I come back for pre-season, all focus will be on what I want to do next year; to work on certain goals and what I need to improve on, and to have a really good season for Brentford.”
The move sees Kelleher join up with his Ireland teammate, Nathan Collins plus reunite with Sepp van den Berg and Fabio Carvalho, which the shot-stopper believes will make his transition less problematic.
“I obviously spoke to Nathan. He spoke really well about the whole club and it’s nice to know Sepp and Fábio as well. It’ll make it easier for me to settle in and be nice to have a few friendly faces.”
Brentford’s Director of Football, Phil Giles is “very pleased” to sign Kelleher who had one year left on his contract at Liverpool, and had previously been scouted by the Bees, who viewed the Ireland international as the first-choice replacement for Flekken.
“When Mark Flekken had the opportunity to move to Bayer Leverkusen, we immediately thought about Caoimhín as his replacement.
“As well as being a very good goalkeeper, I’ve rarely met a player for whom everybody has such positive words to say about his personality and character. I’m therefore confident he’ll be an excellent addition to the squad.”
First-team goalkeeping coach, Manu Sotelo added that he is “looking forward to working with” Kelleher who he considers to be “… a young keeper full of talent who has already proven how he can perform in the Premier league as well as Europe.”
Sotelo proceeded to praise Kelleher for his calmness and progressive attitude towards improving his game.
“He is calm and obsessed with improving. His best quality is his agility and he is a clever goalkeeper, with positioning and awareness being key elements of his game.
“With us, I’m confident he will achieve the next level in terms of performance and show the potential he has.”
The 26-year-old Irish goalkeeper graduated through Liverpool’s academy and went on to make 67 appearances across the last six seasons as back-up goalkeeper to Alisson Becker, during which he was their main goalkeeper in domestic cup competitions.
Kelleher made his debut as au unused substitute in their 2018-19 Champions League Final win over Tottenham, which was the first of six titles that he won with the Reds as he took one Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Super Cup crown apiece plus two Carabao Cup titles.
His first Carabao Cup title was even more special as he himself scored Liverpool’s winning penalty against Chelsea in the final in 2022, which was settled 11-10 in a tense shootout following a goalless draw.
Liverpool confirmed his move to Brentford with a short statement thanking him for his contribution throughout his time at Anfield.
“Everyone at Liverpool FC thanks Caoimhin for his contribution to the club’s recent success and wishes him the best of luck for the future.”