Darren Bent says Liverpool’s Caoimhin Kelleher reminds him of ‘unbelievable’ World Cup winning goalkeeper

Add as preferred source on Google

Liverpool are in a very happy place with their goalkeeping department this season.

The Reds raised a few eyebrows over the summer with the signing of Valencia shot-stopper Giorgi Mamardashvili.

Although Mamardashvili adds strength to a Liverpool squad that already contains two top goalies, Caoimhin Kelleher’s performances this season have made it look even more puzzling.

Kelleher saved a penalty from Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe on Wednesday to make it two spot-kicks saved in two games.

The Irishman has had to step up once again this term in the absence of Alisson Becker through injury. And, thankfully for Liverpool, he has once again risen to the challenge.

As Kelleher’s displays get better and better, he is starting to earn some lofty comparisons.

Caoimhin Kelleher compared to Emi Martinez

Kelleher’s excellence is no longer a surprise. He may have played just 57 times for Liverpool, but that has been littered with incredible performances.

Kelleher has kept goal for two cup final wins and has played in plenty of other, massive games for the Reds. Wednesday night was special, though. It does not get much bigger than Madrid.

And looking back on Kelleher’s display and where he goes next for TalkSPORT, former England striker Darren Bent said he can see parallels with Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez’s time with Arsenal.

“He reminds me a lot of Martinez at Arsenal,” Bent mused. “He was at Arsenal for about ten years, he gets the opportunity and people are like ‘who is he?’ He is unbelievable when he gets his opportunity, wins the FA Cup with Arsenal and I’m thinking ‘you’ve got to keep him in.’

READ MORE: Caoimhin Kelleher shares how Liverpool feel about Man City after beating Real Madrid

“Arteta made the decision to bring back Leno and send him out, mad. Went to Villa and now he’s one of the best goalkeepers in the world, won the World Cup.

“I genuinely think, looking at his story and now Kelleher’s, he’s going to come back next summer, Mamardashvili [will be there], Alisson’s still there, I don’t think he’s going anywhere, he’s got to go and make himself a number one,” Bent adds.

“He’s 26, he’s getting to the point, ‘let’s go and play football’, because he could go and be someone’s number one for ten years.”

Martinez comparisons make sense

This is not a bad shout from Bent. Martinez had to wait a long time for his chance at Arsenal before finally breaking out as a first-choice ‘keeper in his own right.

By the time he moved to Villa to be first choice in 2020, the Argentine was already 28.

Since then, Martinez’s career has gone stratospheric, becoming a key player in three trophy wins for his country and regularly – if erroneously – being labelled as the best goalkeeper on the planet.

If Kelleher can hit those heights then he will have done very well indeed.

And in truth, we’d argue that the 26-year-old has the makings of a better goalie than Martinez. His 57 appearances for Liverpool is far more than the 38 the Villa man made for Arsenal.

Martinez was also forced to drop down the divisions and went out on six different loan spells. Kelleher has been good enough not to need that at all. It’s a decent comparison and one the Liverpool academy man will no doubt like. But we think he can be even better.