Houghton believes Cork's Kelleher should stay at Anfield to learn from the best

CORK teenager Caoimhín Kelleher is rated very highly by Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.

Kelleher is training with the Irish U21s ahead of Sunday’s game with Luxembourg in Tallaght and will probably be on the bench for Stephen Kenny behind Man City’s Gavin Bazuna.

He has been part of the Liverpool first-team squad all season and he is a star of the future for Liverpool and Ireland, but there is a consensus that he may have to go out on loan to gain some first team experience.

Ireland and Liverpool legend Ray Houghton doesn’t believe that to be the case. He thinks he should stay at Liverpool and learn from the best.

“I’m not a great lover of letting players go out on loan,” said Houghton.

“I can understand players need game time and they want to learn from mistakes made, which obviously can only happen if playing, however, I like having the youngsters around my players, get them used to the environment, get used to the training and the level of commitment required.

“I don’t think you get that when you move.

“You might get more competition because you’re playing more regular, but you’ve got to learn from the best, and the best is where Caoimhin is right now.

“I do believe he is a great goalkeeper. He has been involved with Liverpool for quite a bit now but he is still so young and still learning his trade.

“He is working with two very experienced goalkeepers which can only be beneficial to him. Minolet has been around Liverpool for quite some time now and if Caoimhín wants to be the best, he needs to look towards Alisson and see what he has achieved in such a short space of time.

“If he can get anywhere near that progression and level, then he has a really good chance of making it at Liverpool.”