Caoimhin Kelleher‘s imminent £18 million transfer to Brentford will not only earn Liverpool a significant profit – but also the goalkeeper’s former club in Ireland.
Kelleher underwent a medical with Brentford on Monday and an official announcement of his switch to west London is only a matter of time.
It will mark the end of a 10-year spell at Liverpool in which he rose through the academy ranks to establish himself as a crucial member of the first-team squad.
That is an impressive feat considering his low-profile move from Ringmahon Rangers in 2019, which saw the Cork-based side agree a fee of just £30,000.
However, according to the Irish Examiner the two clubs also negotiated a 20 percent sell-on clause in their deal, which will be triggered when Kelleher joins Brentford.
Brentford will pay Liverpool an initial £12.5 million, with a further £5.5 million committed in add-ons, and if those are achieved that will therefore see Ringmahon Rangers bank £3.6 million.
Even the up-front fee of £2.5 million is the most Ringmahon Rangers has ever received for a player and also breaks the record for a sell-on windfall for an Irish club.
Ringmahon Rangers will in turn be required to pay 20 percent of their fee – up to £720,000 – to Kelleher’s first club Rockmount AFC.
The Irish Examiner report that the funds are expected to be allocated towards improving facilities at the Ringmahon Park stadium and training centre.
Both Ringmahon Rangers and Rockmount play in the Munster Senior League, which is in the third tier of the Republic of Ireland football league system.
Liverpool brokered a deal to sign Kelleher back in 2015 after then-academy defender Conor Masterson recommended him to scouts.
“Kelleher was on a trial with Man United, and one of the coaches went to watch him and he said he liked him, so we brought him on trial at Liverpool,” former head of goalkeeping John Achterberg told the Yours, Mine, Away podcast.
“So I went on a Thursday night to watch training and he looked mobile, technically not very good, but he moved very well. I thought ‘OK, the technique we can always improve’.
“Also he was not tall, he was maybe six foot, but he didn’t cost anything.
“If we had to pay £200,000, £300,000 for him we would not have done it, because we didn’t know if he was going to be tall enough.
“But because he moved like that, we thought ‘OK, in the worst scenario he’d become a training goalie’.
“Kelleher was only £30,000, but then we had to fight with Villa, so it took quite a bit of time before he came – and in the end he decided to come to us.”
