International manager hits out at Liverpool’s treatment of defensive star

Stephen Kenny hits out at Liverpool regarding Caoimhin Kelleher injury

Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny has hit out at Liverpool staff for the injury sustained to goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, resulting in the manager not being able to select his first-choice keeper for the upcoming international fixtures.

Speaking to 90min (h/t Liverpool.com), Kenny has hit back at Jurgen Klopp’s claims of the keeper getting injured on international duty.

“If Caoimhin did tweak something, we weren’t aware of it. He trained with Liverpool when he went back for pre-season and got injured.”

Clearly, both sides are not willing to accept responsibility for the keeper’s sustained period on the sidelines.

Liverpool have had a number of key players injured at the start of the season and Kelleher is part of the list, with Klopp unable to call on the player for selection.

It was only some years back when the responsibility of goalkeeping was shared between Simon Mignolet and Loris Karius and we all remember how that turned out to be.

With Alisson and Kelleher, we have two highly rated keepers and although the Brazilian is the undisputed no.1. Kelleher has deputed tremendously well when called upon and provides the Reds with a reliable second choice.

The Academy graduate rose to prominence in the Carabao Cup final where he coolly slotted his penalty and eventually led the team to its first trophy of the season.

Kelleher has developed heaps and bounds since joining Liverpool‘s Academy in 2015 and at 23 years of age, has done enough to deserve more minutes for the first team. However given that the player he is up against is Alisson, the chances of him displacing the Samba star are remote.

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With Southampton’s new no.1 Gavin Bazunu also vying for Republic of Ireland’s first choice keeper, Kelleher would be looking to recover fast from his injury and get some game time to cement his place as the first choice.