Liverpool may have dropped the ball as chastening Caoimhin Kelleher transfer detail emerges

The journalist clarified that ‘there’s no buyback clause’ for the 27-year-old, whilst also expressing his surprise that ‘bigger clubs didn’t come in for him’.

It was added that the Republic of Ireland international ‘had been keen to explore his options’ in the two preceding summers but was persuaded to stay at Anfield before being granted an exit last year in the knowledge that Giorgi Mamardashvili would be arriving on Merseyside.

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Could Kelleher make Liverpool regret the terms of that deal?

Did Liverpool drop the ball by allowing Kelleher to leave for only £18m (with add-ons) and without agreeing a buyback clause?

That feeling is compounded by the inclusion of such a clause in the £35m sale of Jarell Quansah to Bayer Leverkusen last summer (Sky Sports), with the Reds granting themselves that safety net whilst also reaping double of what they’ll receive for the Irish goalkeeper.

The 27-year-old has voiced his belief that the timing was right to depart Anfield last summer after so many seasons of deputising for Alisson and with only one year left on his contract, and it would’ve been difficult to begrudge him the opportunity to become a fixed first-choice elsewhere.

Kelleher’s performance figures from this season have been superior to Mamardashvili’s, and while that isn’t to denigrate the efforts of the Georgian stopper, it highlights how strongly the Brentford man has been performing with a full campaign of football under his belt rather than sporadic appearances.

Selling the Irishman wasn’t a mistake per se, especially when he’d been so patient in waiting for his chance to go elsewhere, but it seems erroneous not to have arranged a buyback clause for him (unless efforts to do so were made but unfulfilled).