His brother was over to visit, and the stadium was only a 35-minute journey from his home in Lecco.
He recognised some of the administrative people at the club, but most of the players and coaching staff were different.
The Italian club’s rise has been just as dramatic as the Red Devils’ decline, and achieved much more quickly.
Kerrigan could be forgiven for dreaming of an alternative universe where he was playing and starring in the victory over the club he supported as a boy, rather than watching from the crowd.
After all, it is a little over four years since the Sligo native signed for Como. At the time, he spoke of the club’s three-year plan to reach Serie A – they achieved it in two.
As recently as 2019, Como were competing in the fourth tier of Italian football. Now, they are a Champions League-level club capable of outclassing Manchester United.
The backing of the company owned by Robert Budi Hartono, Indonesia’s wealthiest man, worth $18.6 billion (€16.62 billion) according to Forbes, was key to their reversal in fortunes, taking over when they were bankrupt in 2017 and swiftly pulling them from obscurity to elite status.
While excited by the project, Kerrigan admits he could not have anticipated the speed of their remarkable ascent.
When the winger signed for the club, he was considered one of the hottest properties in Irish football.
Along with Colm Whelan, Kerrigan was the standout player for the UCD team that won promotion to the Premier Division in 2021.
A self-professed late developer, Kerrigan graduated from the college with a degree in commerce and worked part-time in SuperValu before his football career fully took flight.
He had been on Como’s radar, along with several Irish, Scottish and English clubs, but a performance for Ireland U21s against Italy persuaded the ambitious Serie B outfit to step up their pursuit.
Kerrigan was recommended by Marc Bircham, whose Waterford side the youngster starred against in a promotion-relegation playoff and who later became a first-team coach at Como. A Zoom call with their then-chief executive, former Chelsea star Dennis Wise, helped seal the deal.
“I knew going over that I would have Marc and Dennis looking out for me when I was there, as one of the English speakers,” he tells The 42. “And I’m not afraid of a little adventure, a little bit outside the box. So I think that’s what interested me.”
Soon, Kerrigan was rubbing shoulders with ex-Arsenal and Barcelona star Cesc Fàbregas, who joined Como as a player initially and has since gone on to manage them and establish himself as one of the most promising young coaches in world football.
“He came in just like a normal fella,” Kerrigan says. “We’re all sitting there in awe of him, but he came in, and he was proper sound, like one of the lads.
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“I don’t know what I expected, but you’ve seen him on TV for however many years.
“He was just a gent, pure, humble, nice bloke in and around the changing room.”
Kerrigan is a former teammate of Cesc Fabregas, who has since gone on to manage Como. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Was Kerrigan expecting a diva, given that Fàbregas’s stature in the sport dwarfed everyone else’s at the club?
“That’s probably what you would think, but obviously it never really tends to be like that. It’s just how we would all think, I think, looking from the outside.”
“I was going very well at the time,” he recalls. “It probably stalled momentum. But the club grew so quickly, and when I missed that year, I probably missed one of the most important years to make your name there. From then on, it was just an upward trajectory.”
Unfortunately, Kerrigan got left behind. By the time the Irishman came back to full fitness, he could barely get a look-in.
In his second season, when the club won promotion to Serie A, he made just a handful of appearances and one start in six months, before opting to go on loan to secure more regular playing time.
He moved to Serie C club Novara until the end of the season. By the time Kerrigan returned, Como had been promoted to the top flight, further diminishing his chances of establishing himself as a regular.
He spent the next season on loan with Beveren in the Belgian second tier, playing regularly and helping the club reach the playoffs. The welcoming environment, where English was the primary language, helped him settle.
Yet this productive stint was not enough to persuade Como to give Kerrigan a chance. The club had finished 10th in their first season in Serie A, and he was deemed surplus to requirements.
His next move would prove ill-fated for different reasons.
In the summer of 2025, Kerrigan signed a two-year contract with Serie C side Ternana.
He made another inauspicious start. Owing to a hamstring injury, Kerrigan was left out of the squad for the first half of the campaign.
Yet he recovered and performed strongly in the second half of the season, scoring four goals in 20 appearances.
But while things were going smoothly on the pitch, they were unravelling off the field.
The club went bankrupt, and players’ wages went unpaid for a prolonged period.
“It was a bit sickening when I knew I had to go looking again [for another move] in the summer, when I felt quite settled,” Kerrigan recalls.
And was he repaid the money owed to him?
“No, it’s in process. I think it might be two years, and I’m not sure what percentage we will get.
“It’s a bit of a mad one, but I suppose it’s the risk of being over here because it does happen now and again.”
Liam Kerrigan (right) celebrates a goal for Ternana. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
As dire as the situation was, Kerrigan and his teammates could hardly afford to down tools, as they felt they were fighting for their futures in the game.
“A few of the players, I don’t think, have any team still,” he says. “So you really did have to almost play for yourself. I know you’re playing a team sport, but it was about looking out for yourself because if you weren’t playing or if you weren’t going well, your options would be limited during the summer.”
Nevertheless, there was a drop-off in results.
“Visually, you couldn’t see [a lack of effort], but looking at that team, we should have done better. So I think, in the back of people’s heads, it was there. But then again, a lot of us knew it was happening, and you need to play well to get your next place because there was no team for the next season, so you knew you had to do a bit of business to find a new squad.”
Kerrigan is back in Serie C this year with AC Renate, four years after his initial move to Italy.
While not yet fluent in the language, he has little difficulty understanding teammates and coaches as long as they don’t stray too far from football’s lexicon.
Despite finishing third last year, his current team are bottom of the table and winless after 10 games.
Nonetheless, Kerrigan, who has one goal and one assist from nine league appearances, is optimistic the side are better than recent results suggest, while relieved to be enjoying his football again without worrying about finances.
The attacker signed a two-year deal, so is expected to stay another 18 months, but beyond that, he is “quite open” to whatever opportunity arises, whether it is nearer or further away from home.
With friends and family visiting often, thanks partly to the convenient direct flights from Knock Airport to Bergamo, Kerrigan insists loneliness is not a problem.
“I suppose home is always there,” he says. “You can always go back if things don’t go the way you expect, or even if you do eventually get homesick or whatever; you can always go back home. It’s probably the easier thing to do. But I’m just using football as well to experience different things, different cultures, and I found that I’ve quite enjoyed it here. So why not stay?
“When you get a little name for yourself, it does make life a bit easier when teams are looking at you, and they know what they’re going to get and know what to expect, because a lot of times you’d find that they would wonder if you’re a person that’s ‘made for Italian football’. So I think they trust me now, and I have a little bit of a name that comes with how I play.”
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4 years ago, he signed for Como. This week, he went back to watch them beat Man United
ON WEDNESDAY, LIAM Kerrigan attended Como’s emphatic 4-1 Champions League victory over Manchester United.
His brother was over to visit, and the stadium was only a 35-minute journey from his home in Lecco.
He recognised some of the administrative people at the club, but most of the players and coaching staff were different.
The Italian club’s rise has been just as dramatic as the Red Devils’ decline, and achieved much more quickly.
Kerrigan could be forgiven for dreaming of an alternative universe where he was playing and starring in the victory over the club he supported as a boy, rather than watching from the crowd.
After all, it is a little over four years since the Sligo native signed for Como. At the time, he spoke of the club’s three-year plan to reach Serie A – they achieved it in two.
As recently as 2019, Como were competing in the fourth tier of Italian football. Now, they are a Champions League-level club capable of outclassing Manchester United.
The backing of the company owned by Robert Budi Hartono, Indonesia’s wealthiest man, worth $18.6 billion (€16.62 billion) according to Forbes, was key to their reversal in fortunes, taking over when they were bankrupt in 2017 and swiftly pulling them from obscurity to elite status.
While excited by the project, Kerrigan admits he could not have anticipated the speed of their remarkable ascent.
When the winger signed for the club, he was considered one of the hottest properties in Irish football.
Along with Colm Whelan, Kerrigan was the standout player for the UCD team that won promotion to the Premier Division in 2021.
A self-professed late developer, Kerrigan graduated from the college with a degree in commerce and worked part-time in SuperValu before his football career fully took flight.
He had been on Como’s radar, along with several Irish, Scottish and English clubs, but a performance for Ireland U21s against Italy persuaded the ambitious Serie B outfit to step up their pursuit.
Kerrigan was recommended by Marc Bircham, whose Waterford side the youngster starred against in a promotion-relegation playoff and who later became a first-team coach at Como. A Zoom call with their then-chief executive, former Chelsea star Dennis Wise, helped seal the deal.
Soon, Kerrigan was rubbing shoulders with ex-Arsenal and Barcelona star Cesc Fàbregas, who joined Como as a player initially and has since gone on to manage them and establish himself as one of the most promising young coaches in world football.
“He came in just like a normal fella,” Kerrigan says. “We’re all sitting there in awe of him, but he came in, and he was proper sound, like one of the lads.
“I don’t know what I expected, but you’ve seen him on TV for however many years.
“He was just a gent, pure, humble, nice bloke in and around the changing room.”
Was Kerrigan expecting a diva, given that Fàbregas’s stature in the sport dwarfed everyone else’s at the club?
“That’s probably what you would think, but obviously it never really tends to be like that. It’s just how we would all think, I think, looking from the outside.”
Yet the Como move didn’t work out.
Less than a month after scoring on his Serie B debut, an ACL injury ruled Kerrigan out for the season.
Unfortunately, Kerrigan got left behind. By the time the Irishman came back to full fitness, he could barely get a look-in.
In his second season, when the club won promotion to Serie A, he made just a handful of appearances and one start in six months, before opting to go on loan to secure more regular playing time.
He moved to Serie C club Novara until the end of the season. By the time Kerrigan returned, Como had been promoted to the top flight, further diminishing his chances of establishing himself as a regular.
He spent the next season on loan with Beveren in the Belgian second tier, playing regularly and helping the club reach the playoffs. The welcoming environment, where English was the primary language, helped him settle.
Yet this productive stint was not enough to persuade Como to give Kerrigan a chance. The club had finished 10th in their first season in Serie A, and he was deemed surplus to requirements.
His next move would prove ill-fated for different reasons.
In the summer of 2025, Kerrigan signed a two-year contract with Serie C side Ternana.
He made another inauspicious start. Owing to a hamstring injury, Kerrigan was left out of the squad for the first half of the campaign.
Yet he recovered and performed strongly in the second half of the season, scoring four goals in 20 appearances.
But while things were going smoothly on the pitch, they were unravelling off the field.
The club went bankrupt, and players’ wages went unpaid for a prolonged period.
And was he repaid the money owed to him?
“No, it’s in process. I think it might be two years, and I’m not sure what percentage we will get.
“It’s a bit of a mad one, but I suppose it’s the risk of being over here because it does happen now and again.”
As dire as the situation was, Kerrigan and his teammates could hardly afford to down tools, as they felt they were fighting for their futures in the game.
“A few of the players, I don’t think, have any team still,” he says. “So you really did have to almost play for yourself. I know you’re playing a team sport, but it was about looking out for yourself because if you weren’t playing or if you weren’t going well, your options would be limited during the summer.”
Nevertheless, there was a drop-off in results.
Kerrigan is back in Serie C this year with AC Renate, four years after his initial move to Italy.
While not yet fluent in the language, he has little difficulty understanding teammates and coaches as long as they don’t stray too far from football’s lexicon.
Despite finishing third last year, his current team are bottom of the table and winless after 10 games.
Nonetheless, Kerrigan, who has one goal and one assist from nine league appearances, is optimistic the side are better than recent results suggest, while relieved to be enjoying his football again without worrying about finances.
The attacker signed a two-year deal, so is expected to stay another 18 months, but beyond that, he is “quite open” to whatever opportunity arises, whether it is nearer or further away from home.
With friends and family visiting often, thanks partly to the convenient direct flights from Knock Airport to Bergamo, Kerrigan insists loneliness is not a problem.
“I suppose home is always there,” he says. “You can always go back if things don’t go the way you expect, or even if you do eventually get homesick or whatever; you can always go back home. It’s probably the easier thing to do. But I’m just using football as well to experience different things, different cultures, and I found that I’ve quite enjoyed it here. So why not stay?
“When you get a little name for yourself, it does make life a bit easier when teams are looking at you, and they know what they’re going to get and know what to expect, because a lot of times you’d find that they would wonder if you’re a person that’s ‘made for Italian football’. So I think they trust me now, and I have a little bit of a name that comes with how I play.”
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cesc fabgreas Como League of Ireland liam kerrigan LOI October Soccer The Return