‘No chance’: Klopp says £66m Liverpool player isn’t facing Chelsea

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Liverpool and Chelsea will contest the season’s first piece of silverware on Sunday afternoon.

Wembley plays host as Liverpool take on Thomas Tuchel’s outfit in a Carabao Cup final.

With a trophy being up for grabs, the Reds manager will be under pressure to play his strongest-possible XI.

However, Klopp has revealed that one fringe player will indeed play.

Irish goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has started three League Cup outings under the German manager so far this season.

And the Liverpool boss has indeed confirmed that the 23-year-old will start ahead of Brazilian sensation Alisson against Chelsea this weekend, adding that his motivation is to keep Kelleher at Anfield long term.

He told The Echo: “Caoimh is an exceptional goalkeeper and we want to keep him here. And for that, he needs games. These games are his competition, and there’s no chance of him not playing.”

Genius?

There’s no denying that it’s a major risk by the Liverpool coach.

After all, Alisson, who cost £66 million in 2018 [BBC Sport], is a world-class goalkeeper and one of the best in football.

However, Klopp is a fair manager and with Kelleher playing the majority of Carabao Cup affairs this season, starting him at Wembley does indeed make sense.

This is a situation where the Liverpool manager could look either foolish or very intelligent, because one mistake from the young Irishman and it’ll be the former Borussia Dortmund boss who receives the criticism.