Caoimhin Kelleher had the privilege of collecting a Champions League winner’s medal last June as an unused substitute in Liverpool’s defeat of Tottenham in the final, even though he didn’t feature at all in the Reds’ triumphant European campaign. However, the Irishman has endured more than his fair share of misfortune since then.
One month after that glorious night in Madrid, a wrist injury ruled the youngster out of partaking in Liverpool’s pre-season fixtures, when he may well have been given the opportunity to play some first team minutes, albeit in a non-competitive environment. Now, the 21-year-old has been struck by injury once more, with Football Insider reporting that he is unlikely to play again this season after damaging knee ligaments.
The 2019/20 campaign has already been a landmark one in Kelleher’s career. He made his competitive senior debut for Liverpool in the Carabao Cup win over MK Dons in September and has played three more first team games since, and while those may all have come in domestic cup competitions, making one’s senior bow is a momentous occasion in any professional footballer’s carer. He also featured in the matchday squad for a few Premier League and Champions League games earlier in the season when first choice Alisson was ruled out through a calf injury, prompting Jurgen Klopp to call Adrian into the team for a couple of months.
Having already been deprived of what could have been hugely beneficial pre-season involvement, though, Kelleher’s latest injury blow has also come at a very inopportune time for him. His setback coincides with that of Alisson, currently sidelined with a muscle injury, which has again led to Adrian getting the call to start while veteran Andy Lonergan sat on the bench against Bournemouth. The Irishman may have been in the 36-year-old’s place at Anfield on Saturday had it not been for his injury and he almost certainly would have been in goals for last week’s UEFA Youth League clash against Benfica, a game in which fellow ‘keeper Vitezslav Jaros was culpable for two errors in a 4-1 defeat.
As things currently stand, Liverpool are two wins away from clinching the Premier League title (potentially doing so on 21 March against Crystal Palace, if not sooner) and will be out of the Champions League tomorrow night unless they defeat Atletico Madrid. Should they seal the league crown in the next fortnight and bow out of Europe, it would leave the Reds having no fixtures of great consequence for the remainder of the season following the international break at the end of this month.
Even with the potential to seal multiple Premier League records, that scenario could prompt Klopp to give some of Liverpool’s younger or lesser-used players a chance to obtain game-time in the league with so little at stake. Indeed, should the Reds win the title in the next two weeks and reach the Champions League quarter-finals, the manager would likely rest key squad members for the European games and call on fringe players for domestic duties.
That could well have been Kelleher’s time to shine but his knee ligament injury sadly looks set to deprive him of that golden opportunity, just as it did in pre-season. Even in a nine-month period that has seen him claim a Champions League winner’s medal and make his senior Liverpool debut, luck has not been on the Irishman’s side when his stars seemed set to align due to the feats of his senior team-mates at Anfield.
Liverpool fans, how big a shame is it that Kelleher looks set to miss the rest of the season through injury? Do you think he will get many chances at Anfield in the future? Comment below with your views!
