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Former Premier League goalkeeper Paul Robinson has urged Liverpool to retain the services of Caoimhin Kelleher this summer. 

The lowdown: So far so good

Added to the Reds’ youth ranks as a teenager from Ringmahon Rangers, the 23-year-old made a combined 51 appearances for the under-23 and under-18 sides prior to becoming a regular part of Jurgen Klopp’s first-team plans.

The Cork native has made 17 senior outings for the Anfield club so far, playing a major role in the Carabao Cup success last season and also becoming a fully-fledged Republic of Ireland international.

Despite those personal achievements and a report from The Athletic claiming that the Irishman is part of the long-term plan, Kelleher remains the understudy to Alisson at Liverpool, but one pundit has backed the talented Irishman to stay put…

The latest: ‘Will get opportunities’

Speaking to Football Insider, Robinson – who contributes as a pundit for Sky Sports – has insisted that the Reds must keep the 23-year-old, with reports last month claiming that the Liverpool stopper may want to move elsewhere to get more game-time.

The former England goalkeeper said of Kelleher: “It is imperative that they keep him from a Liverpool point of view. He is so young. He has shown the ability that he has got. There is no doubt about it, he has the ability to play week in, week out as a number one.

“Every Premier League club carries two number one goalkeepers now. It is vitally important that they do because they are playing in so many competitions. Kelleher will get opportunities but it really depends what he wants.

“The number one has changed massively at the big clubs. Managers are not afraid to rotate goalkeepers now. There is always a clear number one at a club but if he is not playing well there is a number two there that the manager is able to put in.”

The verdict: Unfinished business

The pathway to becoming the first choice on Merseyside seems blocked for the foreseeable future given that Alisson is still only 29 years old and in a position whereby players tend to enjoy prolonged careers at the top.

However, Kelleher certainly has what it takes to pressurise the Brazilian for the number one berth and still has plenty to offer the Reds in the short term and in years to come.

Already a serial trophy winner, the eight-cap Irishman – who was dubbed ‘outstanding’ by Klopp for two penalty saves against Leicester City last season en route to Carabao Cup glory – has proven in his short career to be of the level required to perform on a consistent basis, and that could eventually force a move away.

Furthermore, having not been named in the Liverpool travelling party for their pre-season tour of the far east, there could well be concerns over whether the £7.2m-valued Kelleher is indeed content with a continued backup role at Anfield.

West Ham United, and by extension their manager David Moyes, are seemingly planning a potential transfer hijack as news emerges on AZ Alkmaar left-back Owen Wijndal.

The Lowdown: West Ham set for ‘busy’ summer…

The Hammers have confirmed two first-team signings already this summer as both Nayef Aguerd and Alphonse Areola arrive on permanent deals from Ligue 1.

However, as per Sky Sports, Moyes wants ‘at least’ six new signings done by the start of their 2022/23 Premier League season, and the east Londoners are expected to be ‘very busy’ in the market.

A potential understudy to left-back Aaron Cresswell is said to be on Moyes’ transfer agenda.

The Latest: West Ham aim to hijack Wijndal move…

According to reports, it appears that the Irons and Moyes are attempting to hijack a move by European giants Ajax for left-back target Wijndal.

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Indeed, 90min claimed that West Ham have now made contact over the availability of the AZ defender, with his proposed move to Amsterdam having stalled over personal terms.

The Dutch giants were in pole position for Wijndal but their stumbling block over the 22-year-old’s contract has motivated Moyes and co to move in and attempt to possibly hijack the move.

The Verdict: Ideal target?

The Netherlands starlet would come as a fantastic capture for West Ham and an ideal heir to Cresswell at left-back.

As per WhoScored, Wijndal is a serious threat along the flank as an offensive overlapping full-back, as evidenced by the fact that he notched a head-turning 10 assists in the Eredivisie last season.

The exciting defender also averaged the third-most key passes per 90 out of AZ’s squad and finished the 2021/22 campaign as their sixth-best performer by average match rating (WhoScored).

It’s little wonder that Dutch football journalists like Michael Bell, founder of news website Football Oranje, have called Wijndal a ‘revelation’, and what a swoop it would be if the Irons could hijack Ajax’s proposed move for the starlet.

Manchester City and manager Pep Guardiola have now made a move for in-demand Juventus star Matthijs de Ligt, according to reports.

The Lowdown: Sky Blues swoop expected…

The Premier League champions, as per recent claims from Italy, have been expected to swoop for Man United’s transfer target who is also wanted by Chelsea.

De Ligt, an absolute mainstay for Juve last season, has attracted plenty of attention with Guardiola’s side now firmly entering contention to sign the Netherlands international.

This comes amid a potentially huge summer of change at Eastlands as many first team players are either close to leaving or linked with a possible exit.

To counteract the flurry of possible outgoings, sporting director Txiki Begiristain and chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak have sealed the signings of Erling Haaland, Julian Alvarez and Stefan Ortega with Leeds United star Kalvin Phillips also on the way.

The Latest: City move for de Ligt…

According to Calciomercato Web, the Blues have already ‘proposed’ some players in part-exchange to sign de Ligt from Juve.

However, the Old Lady are thought to not be entertaining that approach – with names like 21/22 final day hero Ilkay Gundogan and Ukraine international Oleksandr Zinchenko now floated as potential makeweights.

The Serie A giants, on on top of these players, would also request €40-50 million (£34m-£43m) as City are allegedly ‘notified’ of their demands.

The Verdict: Too much?

The presence of Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, John Stones and Nathan Ake as things stand make City’s need for a central defender extremely minimal.

Of course, as the latter man attracts interest from Chelsea, it’s safe to say de Ligt would be a more-than phenomenal replacement in terms of quality.

Winning a 2019 Kopa Award, the £200,000-per-week star has also been called a ‘monster’ by Barcelona star Pedri and finished last season as one of Juve’s best performers by average match rating (WhoScored).

De Ligt also averaged more successful aerial duels per 90 than any of his teammates and completed around 89% of his passes out from the back – highlighting his status as a world class, ball-playing centre-half.

That being said, despite the 22-year-old’s obvious ability, City shouldn’t be pushed into making ludicrous offers.

Leeds United are about to make a bid for Club Brugge star Charles de Ketelaere, according to RTL Sport journalist Alexandre Braeckman.

The Lowdown: Busy summer

The Whites have already brought in three players this summer and appear to be closing in on a fourth addition in Manchester City midfielder Darko Gyabi.

A £5m transfer for the 18-year-old is separate from Kalvin Phillips’ pending £42m move to the Etihad Stadium.

De Ketelaere could become the fifth arrival in Yorkshire, with Leeds’ interest ‘serious’ according to Phil Hay, and it looks as if Victor Orta and co are about to make a formal bid for the Belgian.

The Latest: Braeckman’s update

Speaking to MOT Leeds News, Braeckman had this to say on Leeds and De Ketelaere, revealing that an opening €30m (£25.8m) proposal is set to be made ‘in the next days’:

“Leeds is about to submit a first €30m bid, it could be done in the next days, but I can’t tell exactly when.

“Bruges is expecting €40m, they know they could have a huge amount of money for this player. It could easily be the biggest transfer of the Belgian football (currently €27m for Jonathan David, from Gent to Lille).”

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The Verdict: Fingers crossed

Leeds view De Ketelaere as a forward, although he can also play in a deeper role or on the wing and has just come off the back of his best season with 28 goal contributions. [Transfermarkt]

Attacking reinforcements are needed in Yorkshire with the new season fast approaching and Raphinha’s future still up in the air, so hopefully the club can get a high-profile move for De Ketelaere over the line, especially with European giants AC Milan also circling.

James Marshment said that the 21-year-old moving to Leeds would be an “elite signing” for the Whites, and you’d like to think that the Belgian would improve Jesse Marsch’s attacking ranks straight away following his form in 2021/22.

Tottenham Hotspur are allegedly working on their fourth signing of the summer after Yves Bissouma as news emerges on Middlesbrough defender Djed Spence.

The Lowdown: Conte keeps pushing…

Spurs head coach Antonio Conte is showing no sign of slowing down after completing a move for Bissouma, who has now arrived in north London in a £25m deal from Premier League side Brighton.

Indeed, he joins the likes of Ivan Perisic and Fraser Foster who both joined the north London club on free transfers prior to the Mali international’s arrival.

Club chief Fabio Paratici and Conte are now prioritising a central defensive upgrade, a new striker and a right wing-back option, with 90min now sharing news on the latter position.

The Latest: Spence ‘deal’ currently ‘in the works’…

As per their information, a ‘deal’ to sign Spence from Middlesbrough is currently ‘in the works’ as Spurs eye their potential fourth agreement of this transfer window.

How far they are down the line in terms of concluding a move isn’t explained, but is believed that they are attempting to sign the Championship starlet behind the scenes.

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The Verdict: Make the move…

Homegrown and seriously impressing on loan at Nottingham Forest during their promotion push last season, we believe that Spence would come as a very astute signing for Spurs.

Tottenham’s need to balance their homegrown quota has been well-documented, and the 21-year-old’s arrival would go some way to helping in that regard.

Finishing last season as one of Steve Cooper’s standout performers at the City Ground, posting the squad’s sixth-highest WhoScored rating, Spence has also been called the ‘perfect player for Conte’ by journalists such as talkSPORT’s Alex Crook, so there are numerous reasons to be cheerful if the youngster is wearing a Tottenham shirt on the opening day of the new season.

Arsenal are reportedly ready to break the bank in order to land RB Leipzig striker Christopher Nkunku, according to the latest reports.

What’s the word?

As per the Independent, the Bundesliga side have set an asking price of around £100m for the exciting Frenchman, with the Gunners – as well as Paris Saint-Germain – believed to be ‘willing’ to match that figure.

That potential deal would eclipse the £72m, club-record fee that the north Londoners paid to prise Nicolas Pepe from Lille in 2019, with the Emirates outfit in need of new forward additions following the recent departure of Lyon-bound Alexandre Lacazette, having already allowed former skipper Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to join Barcelona in January.

Premier League rivals Manchester United are also named by the report as another potential suitor, although the Red Devils are ‘unlikely’ to cough up such a sizeable fee with other areas of the squad still to address.

Superstar signing

Having only brought in backup goalkeeper Matt Turner and promising Brazilian, Marquinhos, so far this summer, Gunners supporters will no doubt be impatient for more high-profile additions, with these latest links to Nkunku likely to set pulses racing.

Dubbed a “superstar” by journalist Robin Bairner earlier this season, the versatile 24-year-old would no doubt be able to make an instant impact in the Premier League, fresh off the back of an explosive, breakthrough campaign in Germany last time out.

In 50 games in all competitions in the 2021/22 season, the former PSG gem fired in a truly staggering 35 goals and 19 assists, notably netting a goal every 117 minutes in what was a simply breathtaking and relentless scoring spree.

That haul also included 20 league goals – the fourth-best record in the German top-flight – while he also fired in seven goals in just six games in the Champions League, despite Leipzig having crashed out in the group stage.

That tally – which included a devastating hat-trick in the matchday one defeat to Manchester City – ensured he was the joint-fifth highest scorer in the competition, while he also went on to add a further four goals after dropping into the Europa League.

Such a prolific nine months has come somewhat out of the blue, with the £72m-rated man only having scored 12 goals in all competitions across the last two seasons combined, yet that will do little to temper the excitement regarding a possible link-up with Mikel Arteta’s side.

Arsenal are undoubtedly in need of a new focal point in attack, with Nkunku seemingly the superstar attraction who can help fire them back into top-four contention.

IN other news, Arsenal now have “genuine interest” in signing £45m “baller”, it would be a huge coup 

BBC pundit Alan Hutton has criticised the ‘pile up’ of international fixtures taking place after it was revealed that Celtic ace Carl Starfelt has sustained a serious injury.

The Lowdown: Starfelt suffers hamstring injury

In an update on the 27-year-old’s fitness, it was reported by the Daily Record last week that the centre-back could be ruled out of action for months after he was stretchered off the pitch with a suspected hamstring problem in Sweden’s game against Slovenia.

As quoted by the same newspaper, the defender admitted that the initial diagnosis of his injury ‘does not look very bright’, meaning that the Hoops now look set to be without their man as Ange Postecoglou steps up preparations ahead of the start of the new season.

The Latest: Hutton slams international schedule

Speaking during an interview with Football Insider, Hutton claimed that the number of games being played is ‘too much’ for the international stars to deal with.

“Look, I don’t think it’s a problem going away on internationals. It’s happened for as long as I can remember when the season finishes.

“You get a week off and then you go and play your international matches or if it’s a tournament. I think the problem at this moment in time is the fixture pile up.

“If you look at any of the teams, I mean Scotland could have had five games in June. That’s too much after a long season.

“I understand with everything that’s going on, you have to fit certain things in, I do get it.

“But I think the amount of football that’s being played in the season is too much. Especially for some of these top stars and top nations that compete in everything.”

The Verdict: A race against time

Starfelt managed to play almost 45 minutes for Sweden before being removed from the field in what was only his sixth appearance for his country, which will come as a huge blow to the Australian boss.

The £17k-per-week gem was a stalwart in the Scottish Premiership this season and proved just how much of a rock he can be at the heart of the Celts backline, having averaged 3.5 clearances, 1.3 interceptions and 1.2 tackles per game, via WhoScored.

Postecoglou will want to have all of his defensive experience available to him for when the new term kicks in, but with Starfelt not even having a time frame on his return yet, whether he will be declared fully fit in time or not yet remains to be seen.

In other news… a Celtic transfer target is now pushing for an exit from his club to make the move to Parkhead.

Everton narrowly avoided Premier League relegation this season as Frank Lampard guided his team to a dramatic 3-2 victory over Crystal Palace in their penultimate game to guarantee survival.

This close escape won’t be enough to satiate the Goodison Park faithful, though, and they may be expecting big things next season, especially with the manager getting a full summer transfer window to reshape the playing squad.

One move that they could make is signing defender Adrien Truffert from Rennes, as Farhad Moshiri looks to loosen the purse strings to sign the £10.8m-rated left-back.

He can be their own Theo Hernandez

That’s according to French outlet L’Equipe, who claimed that Everton are keen on the 20-year-old as Lampard aims to boost his porous defence.

Truffert could develop into Everton’s very own Theo Hernandez, the AC Milan and France left-back who has won the Champions League and UEFA Nations League, and the Merseyside club are in need of a defender with his quality.

FBRef’s similar player model compares Truffert with his compatriot and it’s clear to see why. Both are goalscoring full-backs and love to get forward as much as possible. Hernandez scored five goals and registered five assists in 2021/22, while the Rennes youngster notched three goals and three assists in Ligue 1.

Truffert committed fewer fouls than the AC Milan defender (24 to 39), and although Hernandez makes more interceptions (26 to 19) and tackles (40 to 21), there is plenty of time for the former to improve certain areas of his game and, at 20 years of age, he isn’t near the finished product yet.

Hernandez displayed his attacking qualities by delivering almost three times as many crosses (141) as Truffert (47) this season, but a move to the Premier League could see him gain more experience playing at a much more demanding level of football than the French top flight.

The Rennes left-back has been dubbed “incredible” by the French media, and given his performances during the season, it’s clear to see why there has been interest from England. Everton might never sign Hernandez from Milan, but Moshiri could get the next-best thing with a swoop for Truffert.

AND in other news, Lampard must now brutally axe Everton’s £22m “walking red card”, he’s Klaassen 2.0

Celtic are reportedly interested in signing Maccabi Haifa midfielder Mohammad Abu Fani this summer.

What’s the news?

According to reports in his homeland (via Daily Record), the Hoops are joined by Eintracht Frankfurt, Standard Liege and Royal Antwerp in keeping an eye on the midfielder during Israel’s upcoming Nations League matches.

A product of Maccabi Haifa’s youth academy, the 24-year-old has racked up 99 appearances for the club across all competitions. In that time, the Israel international – who is currently valued at just £810k by Transfermarkt – has scored 10 goals and delivered seven assists along the way.

With 44 appearances and 12 goal contributions this season across all competitions, this highlights just how important he is for his club and why they may be reluctant to let him leave this summer.

On the international stage, the midfielder has made 45 appearances for his country across their youth and senior teams, scoring six goals in the process.

In January, journalist Sanny Rudravajhala quote-tweeted a now-deleted clip of Abu Fani keeping possession of the ball during a game against Maccabi Tel Aviv when his side won 3-2 having been 2-0 down, with the journalist describing the passage of play as a “thing of beauty”.

Bye-bye Soro

In terms of a potential move to Celtic for the Israeli gem, this could potentially bring Ismaila Soro’s time at Parkhead to an end.

Signed from Israeli outfit Bnei Yehuda in January 2020 in a four-and-a-half-year deal worth around £2m, the Ivorian has made just 43 appearances for the Bhoys.

Taking into account how the 24-year-old only started six of the 19 games in which he appeared for Ange Postecoglou’s side this season (and none since December), it’s safe to say that he is not particularly high in the pecking order at Parkhead.

Also, with a report from The Athletic claiming that the Bhoys intend moving the midfielder out of the club this summer, this could pave the way for Abu Fani to come in and take the Ivorian’s place in Postecoglou’s squad.

Should the Hoops finally manage to get rid of Soro in the coming weeks and months, adding a player like Abu Fani to their ranks, who has experience of playing as an attacking and defensive midfielder at times, could be the best option for the club.

In other news: Ange can finally axe “unbelievable” Celtic flop by signing “feisty” 19-goal sensation

Celtic have seen many players move in and out of Parkhead on loan deals over the past few years.

As happens with a lot of other clubs, some players only have temporary spells, whereas others end up signing on permanent deals.

Moving into the summer transfer window, it seems as though a clue has emerged regarding the future of one such player who ended up playing a key part in Celtic’s season after arriving on loan last summer.

What’s the talk?

Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, Michael Bridge discussed the possibility of Cameron Carter-Vickers putting pen to paper on a permanent deal at Parkhead following his loan spell from Tottenham Hotspur.

The Sky Sports journalist said: “I think that will happen, because he’s a player who’s been on loan to every other club, he’s never found his home. He’s had about 20 EFL loans, but he’s ended up winning the title with Celtic, so I think he’s found his home there.”

A product of Tottenham’s youth system, the centre-back has only made five senior appearances for the north London club.

As Bridge mentioned, the defender has had previous loan spells at clubs such as Sheffield United, Ipswich Town, Swansea City, Stoke City, Luton Town and Bournemouth before finding himself at Celtic.

Fans would be thrilled

Taking into account how the 24-year-old made more appearances for the Hoops this season than for any other club he has represented throughout his career, it’s easy to see why Bridge thinks Carter-Vickers may see Celtic as his “home” now.

The fact that he played a big part in the Bhoys’ Premiership title victory would also presumably give him a stronger connection to the club and possibly make him want to stay on a permanent basis.

With 33 league appearances to his name in the league, only Joe Hart and Carl Starfelt racked up more top-flight minutes than the American, highlighting just how important he was for Postecoglou in 2021/22.

Having ended the campaign as the fourth-highest rated player currently in Celtic’s squad based on his league performances according to WhoScored, it’s safe to say that many Hoops fans would be thrilled if their club finally bring Carter-Vickers’ time as a Tottenham player to an end and keep him at Parkhead for the foreseeable future.

In other news: Worrying behind-the-scenes development emerges, it’s bad news for Celtic