Jurgen Klopp reaffirms belief Caoimhín Kelleher injury undiagnosed on Ireland duty  

Goalkeeper is back training after missing pre-season and Liverpool's opening three matches

Caoimhín Kelleher during a Republic of Ireland training session. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

The war of words between Jurgen Klopp and Stephen Kenny has deepened after the Liverpool boss reaffirmed his stance that Caoimhín Kelleher’s groin injury was undiagnosed on Ireland duty.

Kelleher has just returned to full goalkeeping training, missing the entire pre-season and Pool’s opening three matches, due to the muscle injury. The 23-year-old would have started the Community Shield curtain-raiser against Manchester City in place of the injured Alisson but for his own medical issues.

"Caoimh felt something after the international game and everybody, the medical department there, told him it’s fine and will be good after holiday,” Klopp had said in July by way of explanation.

"He came back and first training, felt it again. We checked it and it was not good."

Speaking just over two weeks ago, Kenny denied that the problem traced back to the June international Uefa Nations League quadruple-header, in which Kelleher played every minute.

“It caught us by surprise I must say,” he stressed. “I actually wasn’t aware that he was injured, to be honest with you. If he had of been injured, he would have been out of training or not training.” 

Ahead of Monday’s big Premier League game at Manchester United, the German detailed his take on the injury problems besetting his squad. He made a point of sticking to his version of events regarding the genesis of Kelleher’s situation.

“When you have a lot of injuries, as a manager you have to ask first yourself what went wrong, stuff like this,” he said.

“Then you go through it and it was really unlucky. It started with the two injuries, or three injuries, which the players brought here.

“Caoimh, I heard the Irish manager didn’t like it, or however you gave him the information. However, for us it’s like this: he got injured at Ireland and whoever was responsible for it in this moment did not pick it up.

“Then when he arrived here he was still injured without having massive problems. In a short break the boys don’t train like crazy in this three-and-a-half weeks. Two weeks off, one week a little bit, then first time goalie training out until today [Friday].” 

In response to a recent query by the Irish Examiner, the FAI said the issue was dealt with by Stephen Kenny and the matter is now closed.

Ireland are next in action on September 24 when they travel to Glasgow for their penultimate Nations League fixture against Scotland, followed by the visit of Armenia three days later. Kenny is next due to fulfil media duties in the previous week.