With each passing day, there’s a growing sense that Milos Kerkez will soon be a Liverpool player.
Fabrizio Romano has said that a swoop for the Bournemouth defender could be ‘the next one’ for the Reds after clinching a deal for Jeremie Frimpong and amid the highly promising pursuit of Florian Wirtz.
Comments made by Andy Robertson and Justin Kluivert on internatinal duty this week also appeared to hint at the probability of the 21-year-old swapping the Vitality Stadium for Anfield sooner rather than later, and Kopites have been further assured of the type of player they could be getting in the Cherries’ number 3.
Kerkez has elicited ‘amazing’ character references
The Daily Mail’s Lewis Steele posted a video on his eponymous YouTube channel on Tuesday night in which he addressed Liverpool’s pursuit of Kerkez, and two comments in particular will be music to the ears of Reds supporters.
Firstly, the journalist claimed that it’s ‘pretty obvious’ that the proposed transfer ‘will happen soon’, corroborating the aforementioned update from Romano.
He also shared an insight into what the Hungarian is like behind the scenes, and the testimony was glowing: “I was on the phone today for about 20 minutes [with someone] who knows Kerkez very well, and honestly, the character references he’s got are amazing in terms of his personality.”
Kerkez seems ideal for Liverpool both on and off the pitch
Anyone who’s watched Bournemouth regularly over the past couple of years will be aware of the left-back’s qualities on the pitch – the bombastic sprints along the touchline, the overlapping runs which pose problems for the opposition, the ability to pick out an inch-perfect cross, the intelligent positional sense when defending.
However, a footballer’s behaviour away from the public eye is every bit as important as what they produce on matchday. All the talent in the world can’t atone for a problematic attitude which poses a clear and present danger to dressing room harmony.
Not every signing that Liverpool have made over the past decade has been a roaring success, but one thing the Anfield hierarchy constantly get right is the recruitment of players who fit seamlessly into the group dynamic, even if their game-time is sparse (Wataru Endo and Federico Chies are prime examples).
It also helps to have genuine leaders such as Virgil van Dijk, Mo Salah and Andy Robertson who set the standards every day in training and won’t accept anything less than total commitment from their teammates.
From what Steele has said, it seems that won’t be an issue with Kerkez if the Hungarian joins the Reds in the coming days, and recent history suggests that FSG wouldn’t have gone near the 21-year-old if they had any reservations about his character.
It was Richard Hughes who oversaw the left-back’s move to Bournemouth two years ago when he was sporting director at the Vitality Stadium, so he’ll already know about what the player is like behind the scenes.
That combination of a high ceiling in terms of his footballing aptitudes and a first-class attitude away from matchday would make him the perfect Liverpool signing!
