Chelsea should move for wantaway Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher in January.
That’s according to former Reds midfielder Jason McAteer, who told beIN Sports that he believes the Irishman could be the answer to Chelsea’s problems between the sticks.
Blues number one Robert Sanchez has made a number of high profile errors this term, and despite manager Enzo Maresca insisting he’s happy with the Spaniard, there have been widespread calls from fans and former players alike for him to be replaced.
Kelleher, meanwhile, asserted his desire to leave Anfield earlier this year.
Though he's impressed when called upon, the 26-year-old has never been able to displace Alisson as Liverpool’s regular number one, while in August, the Reds also completed the £30 million signing of Valencia keeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, who will move to Merseyside next year.
“I want to go and be a number one and play week in, week out," Kelleher told the press in September. “The club's made that decision to get another goalkeeper and from the outside looking in, it looks like they've made a decision to go in a different direction.”
McAteer, who made 139 appearances for Liverpool between 1995 and 1999, believes a move to Stamford Bridge for his countryman would be a perfect solution for both parties.
“He’s going to have to make a big choice at the end of the season,” McAteer said. “If he wants a career somewhere else and play rather than just sit on the bench waiting to get in to play in a number of games for Liverpool, Chelsea is the big one.”
“Sanchez, I don’t think he’s [good enough]. I think [Chelsea] should get Caoimhin now,” he added.
McAteer said that he thinks Kelleher would cost Chelsea somewhere in the region of “£30 million to £40 million.”
“With Mamardashvili coming in, I think that’s [Liverpool] saying to him, ‘Go and have a career elsewhere,'” he explained.
Kelleher, who has made 12 appearances this season for Liverpool, is contracted at Anfield until 2026.
Kepa wants Chelsea return
In other Chelsea goalkeeper news, it was reported by Spanish outlet MARCA earlier this week that Kepa Arrizabalaga wants to return to Stamford Bridge at the end of the season rather than make his loan move to Bournemouth permanent.
The 30-year-old is currently midway through a one-year loan spell at Dean Court, where he's been a key man for Andoni Iraola’s side this term.
He's started 10 of the Cherries' 15 Premier League games, six of which they have won.
According to MARCA, Iraola wants to make Kepa's move to the South coast permanent at the end of the season, but the Spaniard instead wants to go back to West London.
Chelsea paid Athletic Bilbao £71.6 million for Kepa in the summer of 2018, which remains a world record fee for a goalkeeper.
After a reasonably promising first season, however, he then recorded the worst save percentage of any goalkeeper in Premier League history in his second, stopping just 54.5% of the shots he faced
As a result, he spent the next two years warming the bench, before returning to Chelsea's starting line-up in 2022/23 under Graham Potter and Frank Lampard.
He again failed to convince, though, and has since spent the last season-and-a-half out on-loan, first with Real Madrid and now Bournemouth.
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