I’d be happy for the club to get that, but it looks like we won’t reach our ex £20m target either, let alone more than that.
More happy if Kelleher gets the the club he wants.
Forest isn’t that.
Think he wouldn’t have mind going to Forest and possibly become their first choice, but the offer and timing wasn’t right for us. Going closer to the end of his contract might expand his options though.
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Move Ali on for 60m in summer and let Kelleher/Mamardash fight it out to be the new #1
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Move Kelleher on 25m in summer, Ali stays on as #1 for another season at least as Mamardash watches on.
- Disregard all offers for both, neither sign new deals/neither are renewed and subsequently lose Kelleher in 2 years and Ali in 3 for nothing.
Which option do you take? All hypothetical of course.
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Definitely not the third option.
Beyond that, I’d want to see what the players have in mind, and also see what offers come in. I could imagine a world where a very large Saudi offer came in for Alisson and we decided to reinvest the money into the side, having other great goalkeeping options at the club.
I’m not wishing for that though, and I’m quite happy having the best in the world as our number one!
Why not? Whatever sale value you might have forgone can be thought of as the price of the optionality to see how all 3 develop over the next couple of years.
Why not?
My thinking is that keeping Kelleher and Alisson to the end of their contracts is not the best option. It would be too much money tied up in goal keepers to keep them all at the club.
We would have four keepers on the books for two more years, if we take Kelleher’s contract expiration as the earliest point someone would leave. Three of those goalkeepers would be first team level - Alisson, Kelleher and Marmadashvili - and one, on early evidence, who looks to be a great back up option in Jaros.
It would seem wasteful to me, because at least two of them would be kicking their heels, possibly stagnating or regressing through not seeing action, and likely going down in value too.
Let’s see what happens, but I would be very surprised if someone is not sold in the summer of 2025.
I’m not convinced we could get as much money for them as people seem to think we will. We have no incentive to let Alisson go if he can take up the space formerly occupied by Adrian in those seasons we won the league, and despite the healthy projections by people here, I think @Zoran is right in that the market just isn’t there for Kelleher, as good as he is, or that we may think he is.
We will probably have to let at least one of the 4 go, but I don’t think it would be as clear cut as it sounds. I’m not sure Mamardashvili would come here to sit on the bench either, so unless we’re pushing Alisson out, it’s unlikely he would be with us next season, so we’d probably end up with the same group we currently have. Would Jaroš be content to stay third-choice? I doubt it, if he could be getting offers to start somewhere else.
So, if Alisson starts for us next season, one of Kelleher or Jaroš is likely to go, unless both would be content to play their current roles. Depending on who else we might have around, we might even see both of them go (which I’m not sure Jürgen would have done, just for the sake of continuity, but we don’t know what Arne would prefer). Mamardashvili would probably be out on loan again or perhaps even sold (unlikely). We may ultimately prefer to retain Kelleher in that scenario unless Jaroš can prove himself further. So that sees both Kelleher and Alisson staying for at least one more season.
If Mamardashvili stays, then it means that it’s likely that it’ll be between him and Alisson to play, which means Kelleher is almost definitely going to leave. Again, it leaves questions over what Jaroš would want.
The same questions would recur in any case the season after, unless one of the keepers on loan or in the youth teams is ready to step up to play the Jaroš role. That leaves it quite possible that we would see Kelleher see out his contract here. Within 2 seasons, Alisson will be 34 turning 35. It’s not inconceivable that we might see Mamardashvili or Kelleher (again depending on their relative developments) be the starting goalkeeper in that situation, and with Alisson having the experience and the fit, the calculus might just be that it’s better to retain him than have to look for a Manninger or a Lonergan. If you can’t remember who either of those are, that’s precisely the point.
Is it likely that this scenario will happen? Probably not. But it’s not an inconceivable situation in my opinion.
Lots of possible permutations, some great options. Let’s see how it pans out.
In the meantime, I’ll settle for 20 and 7 in Slot’s first season.
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I think Kelleher will leave. He will be 27 next season, with just around 50 games in total, and he needs to play more regularly.
Game time for Marma isn’t a big issue imo. Alisson always misses 10-20 games each season, plus cup games as well. Kelleher played 32 games last season, the same as Alisson, so I think Marma will play around 20-30 games. Also, Alisson mentioned that the club asked for his opinion about signing Marma. Given Alisson’s fitness and condition, I think he’s willing to share his workload over the next 1-2 seasons.
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If they continue to offer peanuts for Kelleher then I have no issue.
Depends if you’re passing a sizeable amount up for a player.
Am I the only one that thinks Kelleher should be allowed to leave with minimal fuss?
Sure we should get an OK fee (don’t need the best but shouldn’t be ripped off either). But he has acted with professionalism and been a key performer and now we want to a) continue holding him back and b) prevent him from maximizing his potential???
Honestly, I feel bad about his situation especially after buying Mamardashvili. I understand why we held onto him this season but I think basic decency would mean we accept a decent offer if he wants to leave next summer.
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I would agree, but he signed a contract. I think it’s quite difficult to argue that he didn’t know what he was getting into…
He knew what he was signing for.
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If he wants to go in summer, and he probably does, I agree we should accept a decent offer. The definition of decent might be the tricky part to nail down.
If it is a Forest 8M sort of bid, that’s not decent. Equally, if we are holding out for 35M or whatever, that might possibly restrict his movement, depending on who comes in for him, and we will have to compromise.
I see compromise as decent, and something like 20M with a sell on seems about right, depending on who comes in for him. If it is someone like Chelsea, I would want more.
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Maybe the question is who is looking for a first choice keeper?
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Many,
Real, Barca, Bayern, Inter and maybe City too all need new keeper next summer. I don’t think Kelleher will end up at any of them, but just show that Marma deals is smart move.
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I don’t think we were ever holding out for £35m, it was always said that our wish was nothing below £20m.
We got £8m from Forest on the last day of January 2024.
His contract is expiring in the summer of 2026.
His level on the pitch is pretty consistent, not dropping and hard to see him to incredibly better than he’s doing, so I’m doubtful going forward we’ll get what we wanted.
We’re past the two years left on his deal point.
There is certainly a factor in how many clubs need a first choice goalkeeper, there was a point I think two summers ago when he must have hoped for Brighton, Brentford, maybe even Tottenham. But they all went for other options. There wasn’t even much smoke.
But if we’re not agreeing on a new contract, which is unlikely anyway, now it’s him that has more power on the table when and where to go next.
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Im pretty relaxed about whoever goes or stays as 2 from Kelleher, Mamardashvili or Alisson is a real decent level of Keeper.
Alisson is the best but also has a touch of the Jotas about him - you know he will miss chunks of the season. Kelleher has gone up a level and all the clips ive seen from Mamardashvili this season he has looked decent.
Keepers arent a worry for us whoever stays will be top class.
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Saved for posterity.
The moment Walshy was actually optimistic about our players.
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