Milos Kerkez has fuelled speculation over a transfer to Liverpool with his reaction to reports of new two-year contracts for Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk.
Kerkez is a target for Liverpool heading into the summer transfer window as Arne Slot seeks a new left-back, likely to compete with Andy Robertson.
The Bournemouth defender has two goals and six assists in 31 Premier League games this season and has been touted with a £40 million move to Anfield.
He has already admitted his “dream to play at the highest level” and that “in the summer, we will see what happens,” with the 21-year-old certainly not downplaying claims of a switch.
And Kerkez has only added to that by liking a series of posts about Salah and Van Dijk extending their stays at Liverpool.
The youngster liked two updates from journalist Fabrizio Romano on Instagram on Wednesday, having previously liked quotes from Van Dijk earlier in the week revealing there had been “progress” in talks with the club.
While certainly not confirmation that Kerkez will join Liverpool it is interesting given the speculation surrounding the Hungarian.
It could be interpreted as the left-back being happy that Salah and Van Dijk will be extending their terms as it means he will be playing alongside them next season.
Kerkez already has close ties to the Liverpool squad as a friend of midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai, who is his captain at international level.
He would fit in well within Slot’s setup, with left-back having proved one of the weaknesses of his squad despite some strong displays from both Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas.
Now 31, it is evident that, along with an injury hit 2023/24, starting almost every game for Jurgen Klopp in the previous five seasons has begun to take a toll on Robertson.
That has manifested in a number of high-profile errors, including in Sunday’s 3-2 loss to Fulham, while his creative output has dropped significantly.
Though Robertson, with 59, is behind only Trent Alexander-Arnold (64) for the most assists of any defender in Premier League history, he has only contributed one in 41 games this season in all competitions.
Kerkez is 10 years his junior and, with Tsimikas not of the standard required to take over as first choice, would provide much-needed competition for the starting spot if he were to join this summer.
‘Liverpool have bought themselves time’
Sam Millne (@sam_millne)
Van Dijk and Salah will remain key figures in the starting XI. It does have to be acknowledged, though, that they are 33 years old and 32 years old respectively.
While the Dutchman’s playing style and the Egyptian’s outstanding fitness are both mitigations against their age, time catches us all eventually and it will be interesting to see how the pair are fare in the final months of their next contract.
While the clock will ultimately become inescapable for the senior duo, Liverpool have bought time when it comes to planning for their successors.
It is an impossible job to replace Salah on the right, but an extra year or two does give Liverpool scope to develop their plan to accommodate their eventual departures.
While Van Dijk and the Egyptian are both expected to be just as prominent next year as this, they could begin to be used more sparingly as their contracts run down again.
Hopefully, Liverpool are proactive and use the time gained to sign players who can step into their shoes upon their eventual exits, whenever that may be.
The Reds now have two summers to recruit in defence and attack which would allow the incomers time to bed into the club, rather than expecting them to hit the heights of their seniors from the very start.
The job of stepping into Salah and Van Dijk’s shoes isn’t an easy one, but Liverpool have now given themselves a head start in finding the best solutions.
They also have a better bargaining position, as the Reds would have faced sky-high prices with opposition clubs knowing they needed replacements quickly. That scenario could now be avoided.
