Why Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Chelsea Should Buy Liverpool’s £35m rated Goalkeeper
Finding a good goalkeeper is possibly one of the hardest things to do as a Director of Football. Numerous clubs have gone through goalkeepers like wildfire and continued to throw money at the problem in the hopes of fixing it. Arsenal very quickly dropped Aaron Ramsdale for David Raya. Manchester United dropped their long-time David de Gea for, what some still call a questionable decision, André Onana.
There has been a fixation by clubs to play from the back in recent years, with a vast majority of Premier League clubs using their keeper as almost another center-back who can whip a pass 60 yards, or play quick passes short while under pressure from approaching forwards trying to close them down in the press.
Previously, during the summer Liverpool upped their asking price for Caoimhin Kelleher to £35million. The 25-year-old has gained in value with every appearance, with the biggest compliment he can be given that the Reds do not skip a beat when Alisson Becker is missing due to injury or international duty.
Why should the likes of Chelsea, Bayern Munich, and Barcelona consider a £35million bid for the Irishman though? Chelsea have Sanchez? Bayern have Neuer? Barcelona had Ter Stegen(prior to his injury). So how does this move make sense?
So what is the job of the man between the sticks? Outside of contribution through their passing and general distribution, preventing goals would be at the forefront of the demands made of a teams last line of defense. So how do the keepers of Barca, Munich, and Chelsea stack up?
Manuel Neuer
For a long time, Neuer was seen as the standard, and funnily enough, Liverpool were interested in the player while he was at FC Schalke 04. Which was exclusively revealed to us at LFC Transfer Room by ex-Liverpool Head Goalkeeping Coach, John Achterberg! The prototypical sweeper keeper and seen serious success following his move to Bayern Munich. But has of late fallen foul to Father Time and seems to have lost his edge. While only facing 1.84 shots per 90, the German is conceding 1.08 goals per 90. Not a great statistic.
Marc-André ter Stegen
Another German who has been falling foul of Father Time in recent years, suffering a season ending injury earlier this year while playing for Barcelona, now those at Camp Nou find themselves in a difficult situation. They signed Wojciech Szczesny as a backup and have been starting Inaki Pena in the meantime, but they need an out-and-out Number One! Ter Stegen has better shot-stopping numbers than Neuer with 2.75 shots faced per 90, and 0.81 goals conceded per 90. His current replacement has worse numbers. Pena faces 2.02 shots per 90 and concedes 1.01 goals per 90.
Robert Sánchez
The Chelsea man brought in as the newest edition to the goalkeeping room while also having Kepa Arrizabalaga on the roster was, to some, a questionable move. Chelsea found themselves the butt of the joke this summer following their squad size and 8 of them being goalkeepers. Four remain with the main team and four remain on loan with other clubs, including Kepa. So how does Sánchez match up to the others? Well with 4.95 shots per 90 faced and only 1.1 goals per 90 conceded, his shot-stopping fairs better than the others in terms of percentages.
Caoimhin Kelleher
So how does Liverpool's Irishman fair in the statistics? Well, Kelleher averages 4.15 shots per 90 faced and 1.15 goals conceded per 90. Very similar numbers Robert Sánchez and percentages wise vastly superior to both Barcelona keepers and Manuel Neuer currently.
All three teams would not regret making a move for the 25-year-old Irishman next summer, with just one year left on his deal at that point, and with Liverpool rejecting bids, like when Nottingham Forest made an embarrassing bid of £7m and Matt Turner which was quickly turned down, a deal can be made here.
Kelleher deserves first team football, and if it wasn't for Alisson Becker being the Number One at Liverpool currently, I'm convinced he would have made his start and stamped his name in the history books of LFC even more than he already has. Definition of a ''Big Game Player'' having never lost a final or a penalty shootout while playing for Liverpool!
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