The Aggregate: Milos Kerkez's Added Value for Liverpool

Milos Kerkez will bring pace to Liverpool's squad while being available every week. His value in possession may have gone under the radar though.

Liverpool’s squad has grown increasingly Dutch this summer. It looks set to become more Hungarian too.

Rumours linking Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez with a move to Anfield have rumbled on for months. The 21-year-old is an international teammate of Dominik Szoboszlai and was signed for the Cherries by the Reds’ now sporting director, Richard Hughes. This stuff writes itself.

There have been numerous articles regarding what Kerkez will bring to Liverpool, as it seems inevitable a deal will be completed. He has a lot of selling points.

Opta Analyst went with Milos Kerkez Can Be Liverpool’s Ideal Successor to Andy Robertson for their headline. One notable statistic for the Hungarian which emerged in the piece is that he works both sides of his winger. “In the Premier League this season, only two players made more overlapping runs than Kerkez (66), while no one underlapped more often than him (52),” wrote David Segar.

In Milos Kerkez to Liverpool? Bournemouth left-back could be a perfect replacement for Andy Robertson, Sky Sports’ Nick Wright noted that the Bournemouth defender “ranked among the Premier League's top five players for both sprints and distance covered last term, displaying impressive robustness.” If the Reds need someone to patrol the left flank at speed for 90 minutes twice a week, they’ve found him.

As impressive as these facts are, the Opta article also noted that “Kerkez was one of just six outfield players in the Premier League to start all 38 games for his team this season.”

Cue ‘Availability is the best ability’ cliché klaxon.

But one of the things we learned about Arne Slot in his first campaign in charge is that he favours a very settled side. The Liverpool of 2024/25 became just the 12th side in the 38-game Premier League era to have 10 players start at least 28 matches. Their head coach will love an energetic full-back he can rely upon week after week.

Slot is already aware of the threat Kerkez poses too. The youngster started for AZ Alkmaar home and away against Feyenoord in their Eredivisie-winning campaign. Liverpool also made a tactical adjustment with Ryan Gravenberch in their 2-0 win at the Vitality Stadium this season, with the Dutchman playing further to the right to counter the Cherries’ dangerous left side.

“It's clear that if you leave Trent [Alexander-Arnold] constantly with [Antoine] Semenyo and Kerkez constantly in a two-v-one, that is not the best idea that I can come up with,” Slot said after the game. The mention of his now-former right-back is timely, as there is an important way in which Kerkez can contribute towards the shortfall created by Alexander-Arnold’s exit.

He can almost take care of it single-handedly in fact. That’s right. We’re back in the land of The Aggregate.