With Premier League football set to return this weekend, several Liverpool stars will be able to look back fondly on their exploits in the last international week of 2024.
Curtis Jones capped off an impressive England debut by scoring an impudent back-heel flick whilst Conor Bradley proved his attacking potential by netting for Northern Ireland.
Scotland winger Ben Doak was the talk of social media after a clip of him embarrassing Manchester City’s Joško Gvardiol was widely shared, but the moment of the week belonged to Doak’s international captain and clubmate Andy Robertson who scored an injury-time winner against Poland.
Having spent the last six seasons as Jürgen Klopp’s favoured left-back, Robertson’s performances have been criticised this season, with Kostas Tsimikas often preferred by new boss Arne Slot.
Both players could soon be facing more competition for a starting berth, as online transfer guru Fabrizio Romano stated on his YouTube channel that the Reds are ‘monitoring’ Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez as a potential transfer option.
On the latest episode of our Journo Insight Show, we asked the Liverpool Echo’s LFC correspondent Paul Gorst for his thoughts on Kerkez.
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Paul said:
“You look at the links with Richard Hughes at Bournemouth, I think he had a big hand in bringing him in, didn’t he? So he will know all about him.
“I don’t think it’s a major area of concern for Liverpool at the moment, but looking ahead to the summer, you might think that Tsimikas might feel that he wants to go and play regularly if Robertson wins his place back at some stage.
“I’m sure they’re very much keeping an eye on what he’s doing at Bournemouth because he certainly seems to be someone who’s having a great season.
“Richard Hughes will know all about him, and I suppose he’s just got to keep carrying on putting in these sorts of performances to stay on the radar of clubs like Liverpool.”
REDMEN REACTS
The solid recent form of Kostas Tsimikas has been something of a surprise to the many fans and pundits who had written the Greek international off as below the standard required at LFC. His improved showings have come at a good time, with Andy Robertson struggling for form and fitness after missing most of pre-season due to injury. The Scot is aware of the recent scrutiny over his performances and is determined to prove the doubters wrong, but targeting a young left-back such as Milos Kerkez would represent good long-term continuity planning. Paul rightly emphasises the role current Reds sporting director Richard Hughes played in bringing the 21-year-old to the Premier League, and he would be welcomed by a familiar face in the form of his international captain Dominik Szoboszlai were he to join the Reds. A January move seems unlikely at this stage, but given the long-standing issues over the fitness of Luke Shaw at Manchester United and a probable move to centre-back in store for Joško Gvardiol at Manchester City, competition for Kerkez’s signing may increase come next summer.