Caoimhin Kelleher “Delighted” to Commit His Future to Liverpool

Caoimhin Kelleher spoke to Liverpoolfc.com following the news of his new contract.

The 22-year-old has committed his future to Liverpool, and is excited to see how his career progressed over the next few seasons.

For me, it was a positive moment to commit my future to the club for the next few years. It’s such a big club and it’s an honour to be a part of it, so when I got the chance to sign for a few more years I was obviously delighted. I just want to keep my progress going at the club, really.

I think, like you just said there, I am still quite young for a goalkeeper, so I think staying at a club like Liverpool where the quality of training is up there with the best in the world and the standard of players I train with and the goalkeepers I learn from is probably the best I can get, it really helps my development and if I get the chance to play as well, it will be a huge boost as well. To get those kind of games that you play with Liverpool, the Champions League and the Premier League, is huge for my development as well, so they’re probably the main reasons.

Kelleher feels the competition with the likes of Alisson and Adrián is beneficial for his own development, but also for the No. 1.

... there are three of us pushing each other every day, so I think that competition is good for us and also good for Ali. He knows there are two top ‘keepers behind him, so he needs to be on top form and it keeps him in really good shape. Just to train with him every day and pick stuff up from him, watching what he does in games, is really helpful for me and can help my development and make me better as well.

Having Alisson as a model is great for the youngster’s performance levels and his confidence.

I think when you train with him every day then it gives you confidence that if I am training with him then I can do the same things as him. Then seeing how well he does in games, it gives me confidence that if I do play games or I do get thrown in that I will be able to do similar things and do my job well as well. It gives you confidence that you can do it. When you see how well he does, it gives you confidence you can do something similar.

Like many in football, Kelleher looks forward to playing in front of crowds again — while his breakthrough into the first team last season was a big accomplishment, it will certainly be something even better with all of Anfield behind him.

I think that will be massive. I think everybody in football knows that it’s nothing without the fans. As we’ve seen last year, behind closed doors just wasn’t the same. Even when we had the last game of the season against Crystal Palace, it felt like a completely different game with the fans back in. I know it was only 10,000, but it was still very loud and completely different. That’s what football should be and hopefully all the crowds will be back next season. I’d love to play in front of big crowds.

For their part, fans will look forward to backing the youngster — and all the Reds — when fans can finally return to grounds again.