£25m Liverpool player fully expected to leave before deadline day with transfer ‘one to watch’

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Liverpool are starting to finalise which players will continue with them this season and which may begin to be moved on.

The Reds have had a very productive pre-season so far, winning three games out of three during their tour of the USA.

Moreover, the summer has given Arne Slot a good chance to assess the level of his current first-team squad as well as run the rule over some players from the academy.

Now back on Merseyside, it looks likely that Liverpool will start to do some outgoing business before the August 30th deadline.

And while the decision to send most players out to continue their development elsewhere will be taken by the Reds themselves, they may still lose one player they’d much rather keep.

Caoimhin Kelleher expected to leave Liverpool

Thankfully, it doesn’t seem especially likely that any first-team starters will be moved on from Liverpool this summer.

Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold all have one year left on their deals at Anfield and are in slightly perilous positions.

But as of now, there appears to be no imminent danger that any of that trio could leave.

Alisson Becker has been linked with an exit, too, but for the moment Alisson looks more likely to stay with Liverpool.

READ MORE: What Arne Slot has told Caoimhin Kelleher to expect next season

For Alisson’s goalkeeping colleague, Caoimhin Kelleher, though, things are quite different. Kelleher has been urged to leave Liverpool this summer as he searches for more regular game time.

And speaking exclusively to Rousing The Kop, journalist Graeme Bailey says that with three weeks left to go in the window, he still fully expects that the Irishman will go.

“I still think Kelleher’s one to watch, there’s a lot of teams in for goalkeepers,” says Bailey. “He loves playing for Liverpool but he’s 25 now, he needs to go and I think Liverpool will look at that.

“Alisson could play five years as number one at Liverpool so there’s no real option there for Kelleher.”

Liverpool readying Caoimhin Kelleher replacement

There was a lot of chatter earlier in the summer that Liverpool were doing work on a new second choice ‘keeper. Since then, though, things have turned a little quiet.

One link that does seem to be active is that of Liverpool trying to sign Giorgi Mamardashvili from Valencia.

Interestingly, the Reds are said to be keen on signing Mamardashvili before loaning him out for at least one season.

Quite what this means for Kelleher remains to be seen, but we’d argue that the Georgia international would be better served as a straight swap for the Irishman if he does leave.

In that case, however, we’d simply prefer to keep Kelleher. The 25-year-old has been a superb back-up to Alisson and Kelleher is worth his £25m plus valuation. He was brilliant during pre-season, too.