Brentford sells Flekken to Bayer Leverkusen and signs Kelleher as replacement goalie

By Canadian Press on June 3, 2025.

LONDON (AP) — Brentford sold Mark Flekken to Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday and immediately announced a replacement goalkeeper, bringing in Caoimhin Kelleher from Liverpool.

Flekken, a Netherlands international, signed a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee and will work under fellow Dutchman Erik ten Hag, the former Manchester United coach who recently joined Leverkusen.

Lukas Hradecky is Leverkusen’s current goalkeeper but will have to fight for his place with Flekken.

“Mark Flekken possesses a wide range of skills that a goalkeeper in modern top-flight football needs,” Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes said. “He has strong reflexes, good control of the penalty area, and, thanks to his height of 1.95 meters, has tremendous reach.”

The 31-year-old Flekken spent two years at Brentford, making 77 appearances for the Premier League club.

“We were expecting Mark to be our goalkeeper for many more years, however when Bayer Leverkusen made it known that they wanted to do this transfer, and Mark made it clear that he was interested in moving closer to home and with a possibility of Champions League football, we turned our attention towards how all parties could make this happen,” Brentford director of football Phil Giles said.

Flekken previously played in Germany with Duisburg and Freiburg, but has the chance to compete for the biggest titles with the 2024 Bundesliga champion.

“To be able to contribute my qualities to a top German club with ambitious national and European goals now makes me very happy,” Flekken said. “I love the Bundesliga and, of course, I’m also looking forward to challenging for the Champions League with the Werkself.”

Less than an hour after Flekken’s signing was confirmed, Brentford announced the arrival of Kelleher on a five-year deal for an undisclosed fee. The Ireland international was the No. 2 goalkeeper at Liverpool behind Alisson Becker.

“We have scouted him in the past and were aware that he had a year to go on his contract with Liverpool this summer,” Giles said.

“When Mark Flekken had the opportunity to move to Bayer Leverkusen, we immediately thought about Caoimhín as his replacement.”

Kelleher made 67 appearances for Liverpool across all competitions.

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The Associated Press