Former Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher says the death of Diogo Jota means performances and results at his old club are not quite as important this season.
Portuguese winger Jota died in a car crash last summer at the age of 28.
Jota scored 65 goals in 182 appearances for the Reds, helping them win the FA Cup and League Cup in 2022 and the Premier League title last season.
Liverpool are currently sixth in the Premier League – 14 points behind table-topping Arsenal – in what has been a testing season for the club on the pitch.
Republic of Ireland international Kelleher, who left Liverpool for Brentford last June, touched on the emotional impact of Jota’s death in an interview with The Independent., external
The 27-year-old said that for his former club it was “more about them personally and mentally” than anything else this season.
“Obviously, football is a massive sport and people have an opinion, which is natural. People expect you to move on quite quickly, and I don’t think that’s the case,” Kelleher said.
“I find it a bit strange and a bit difficult when I hear people speaking about the players at Liverpool and the performances, because I don’t think this season is even important from a football aspect for them.”
Last November, Reds boss Arne Slot said his side miss Jota both as a player and a person.
Those remarks came in the wake of an emotional post-match interview from Liverpool left-back Andrew Robertson after Scotland had qualified for the World Cup.
Robertson said he had “been in bits” because he “couldn’t get my mate Diogo Jota out of my head” in the build up to a thrilling victory over Denmark which clinched their spot at the tournament.
Kelleher, who made 67 appearances in all competitions for Liverpool, having joined the club’s academy in 2015, posted on Instagram when Jota died that the former Wolves player had become “one of my closest friends in football”.
He acknowledged that coming to terms with Jota’s death had been “a bit easier” since he was no longer at Anfield.
“I stay in touch with some of the guys there, I have a lot of good friends there. It’s a very difficult time for them, a difficult season, with circumstances that people probably aren’t taking into account too much,” explained Kelleher.
“But it’s probably been a bit easier for me, being away from it, and not being in such close proximity to it every day.
“From an individual aspect, for me to leave and play first-team football was obviously right, never mind the tragedy that happened. “