John Achterberg has admitted that Liverpool took a considerable ‘gamble’ on one participant who was ‘technically not superb’ on the time of his arrival at Anfield.
The 52-year-old goalkeeping coach ended his 15-year affiliation with the Reds when the 2023/24 season ended final weekend, and he’ll now reunite with Steven Gerrard as a part of the ex-LFC skipper’s backroom workers at Al-Ettifaq.
In an interview with liverpoolfc.com, the Dutchman mirrored upon how a lot Caoimhin Kelleher has developed since first coming to the membership as a 16-year-old in the summertime of 2015.
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Achterberg mentioned: “Ali [Alisson Becker] might be the very best on the planet, I might say, and what Kelleher reveals is an enormous degree as properly. He’s displaying the identical excessive degree.
“Kelleher is unreal. After we signed him when he was 16, he was agile however technically not superb. He was not tall both, so you’re taking a little bit of a big gamble. The event of that man has been unbelievable and the way he has improved. Clearly the goalie coaches within the Academy labored with him as properly.”
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The distinction between the ages of 16 and 25 for a footballer may be very pronounced, and Liverpool followers have been lucky to witness Kelleher’s phenomenal growth all through his 9 years at Anfield.
The Irishman has needed to be very affected person for first-team alternatives as a result of constant brilliance of Alisson, however when his huge probability got here in the course of the lately concluded season after the #1’s prolonged harm layoff, he made probably the most of it.
The 25-year-old’s saves ensured that the Reds received a second Carabao Cup in three years towards Chelsea at Wembley, and if he does transfer on this summer time in pursuit of turning into an undisputed first-choice elsewhere, he’ll absolutely haven’t any scarcity of suitors.
Kelleher’s rise is a case research for displaying religion in gamers over the long-term, relatively than frivolously tossing them apart simply because they don’t grow to be world-class in a single day, and he might have been jettisoned way back had he been at a unique Premier League membership.
Fortunately Liverpool caught with him and, with the assistance of Achterberg and the Reds’ goalkeeping workers, he’s blossomed right into a netminder who seems very comfy at an elite degree.
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