The cup final hero who could leave Liverpool - and make himself a star at Celtic

The post-match attention may have focused on “Klopp’s Kids” and on Virgil van Dijk’s towering performance, but perhaps the biggest star of the EFL Cup final was a goalkeeper - Caoimhín Kelleher, who made a string of extraordinary and repelled everything that Chelsea could throw at him. And with such an extraordinary game in his back pocket, it’s no surprise that people are once again asking whether he will stay at Anfield for much longer.

Reports have emerged over the past day or two which link him with a summer move to Scottish champions Celtic, who will be in the market for a new number one when former England international Joe Hart retires at the end of the season.

The link seems slightly tenuous – perhaps based more on Celtic’s Irish roots and long history of trading with Liverpool than on any suggestion of ongoing behind-the-scenes discussions – but it will not be the first or last time that Kelleher is connected with another club. He is simply too good to sit on the Liverpool bench forever.

You don’t really get to appreciate how good the Irishman is just by looking at his statistics. They aren’t really all that special. It’s when the Liverpool goalkeeper is called upon in the biggest moments that you see how good he is – as his magnificent close-quarters saves from Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson and Conor Gallagher rather neatly demonstrated.

Kelleher’s great misfortune is to find himself in the same team as one of the very best goalkeepers in the world. There is no argument that Alisson is better. His save percentage of 75.3% over the course of the season is the English top flight’s high watermark, while Kelleher has made 70.7% of his stops over his career. That's an excellent number, and better than many Premier League goalkeepers, but no matter how far deep you dig among the raw numbers, you’ll go a long way to find a metric by which the Brazilian falls behind.

Kelleher has plenty of the traits you want in a top-level goalkeeper. His reflexes are exceptional and he’s brilliant in one-on-one situations, making himself big and making reaction saves that other ‘keepers can’t manage. As a shot-stopper, he is at the elite level.

But he falls behind the very best in other areas. At 6’1” he doesn’t have the best reach and nor is he especially agile by Premier League standards, and some crosses and shots are simply beyond his scope. Nor is his distribution, although solid, as good as the best sweeper-keepers. He can cope outside of his area but he isn’t a natural.

In short, Kelleher is not going to take Alisson’s starting place from him – but while he may be some way behind Liverpool’s first choice stopper, he is more than good enough to take that job somewhere else, and he has proven that he has the mental strength to step up in the big matches. Now 25 and approaching what should be his best years, the time to move should really be now.

This is hardly the first time the idea of his departure from Liverpool has floated. The Athletic reported in May last year that he was “ready” to leave Anfield, with Brentford, Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton & Hove Albion mentioned as possible destinations. Evidently, that move never materialised, but there must be an awareness between both club and player that he is too good to be a number two.

Celtic do make some sense as a possible destination. The Scottish Premier League may not have quite the same cachet as it had in years gone by, but Celtic remain a very big club by any sensible measure, with a huge fan base and the promise of trophies. The finances involved probably wouldn’t be too problematic either – surprisingly, Kelleher is only being paid £10,000 per week. Even if he decides to remain at Anfield as a long-term number two, he should probably ask for a raise.

Elsewhere, the clubs mentioned as being interested last year found different directions of travel. Spurs are sorted thanks to the hugely impressive Guglielmo Vicario, Brighton have rolled the dice on lavishly talented young goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen, and while Mark Flekken has been distinctly inconsistent since joining Brentford, it doesn’t seem likely that Thomas Frank would want to move on already.

But there are always clubs in the mix for a new goalkeeper. One wonders whether Chelsea, who have not been convinced by Robert Sánchez or by his Serbian back-up Đorđe Petrović, might be tempted into a bid by his dominant display on Sunday. Stranger things have happened.

Much will depend on price. The reports linking him with a move have yet to mention a solid figure – another sign that they may be based more on conjecture than on solid fact – but Transfermarkt guesstimates his value at €15m (£12.9m). That’s a lot for a second-string stopper, and more than Celtic have played for any player in their history save for Jota when they bought him from Benfica last summer. It would eat up a lot of the transfer budget up at Parkhead if they went in that direction.

Kelleher will be linked with a move from now until he finally leaves Anfield, and with good reason. He has proven that while he may not quite be good enough to pick over Alisson, he’s far too good to warm the bench. Sooner or later, he will take his leap – and the club that takes a chance on him will, in all probability, be very glad that they did.