LAST UPDATE | 3 Jun 2025

The 42

CAOIMHÍN KELLEHER has completed a move to Premier League side Brentford from Liverpool. 

Shortly after Brentford confirmed the exit of their Dutch international ‘keeper Mark Flekken to Bayer Leverkusen, the club announced the arrival of Kelleher. 

Kelleher has signed a five-year contract at Brentford, with the option of a further year.  

The reported transfer fee is an initial £12.5 million (€14.8 million) that may rise to £18 million (€21.3 million) if a series of performance-related add-ons are reached. Kelleher’s schoolboy club Ringmahon Rangers are due a windfall thanks to a 20% sell-on clause brokered with Liverpool.

The club do not yet know precisely what they will earn and when it will be paid, as it depends on the size and the structure of the deal agreed between Liverpool and Brentford. A portion of their windfall will also be owed to Kelleher’s former club, Rockmount. Based on reported figures, Ringmahon’s windfall could be between €2.5 million and just shy of €3 million.

“I’m buzzing, I’m really happy to be here,” said 26-year-old Kelleher. 

“I don’t think it was very difficult for me to leave [Liverpool]. 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.

“I heard of some interest a number of weeks ago. Once I knew Brentford was in for me, it was definitely one I was really excited about and wanted to do as quickly as possible.

“I like the way the manager and the coaching staff go about their ways. It seems like a really close, tight knit, family club. They’ve got a really good track record of improving and developing players which is really what’s drawn me to the club.”

Kelleher joined Liverpool from Ringmahon when he was 17, and made his first-team debut under Jurgen Klopp in an EFL Cup tie in 2019, having been an unused substitute in the Champions League final over Tottenham earlier that year. 

Kelleher was also part of the Liverpool squad that won the Premier League in 2019/20, though did not make a league appearance. He made Premier League and Champions League debuts for Liverpool the following season, and scored the winning penalty in the 2022 Carabao Cup final shootout victory over Chelsea. He also played all of the victorious 2024 final win over the same opponents, but tasted defeat in last season’s decider against Newcastle. 

Though unable to dislodge first-choice ‘keeper Alisson Becker, Kelleher was an able deputy during the Brazilian’s injury absences, and he played 10 games in each of the last two seasons, thus playing an important role in Liverpool’s league title victory last season. He also saved a Kylian Mbappe penalty in a long-awaited 2-0 victory over Real Madrid in the league phase of the Champions League. 

Kelleher made 67 senior appearances at Anfield, winning a record four penalty shootouts as a Liverpool player, the most of any ‘keeper in the club’s history.

Klopp described Kelleher as the “best number two in the world”, but across the last two seasons, Kelleher made no secret of his desire to establish himself as a number one, either at Liverpool or elsewhere. 

His Anfield days were numbered from the moment Liverpool signed Giorgi Mamardashvili from Valencia last summer on a deal that sees the Georgian international arrive this summer. 

Kelleher might have left Liverpool a year ago, but the club rejected a late offer from Nottingham Forest. He ultimately stayed to pick up another major medal, before moving to the side that finished ninth in the Premier League last season. 

Written by Gavin Cooney and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.