Liverpool’s newest signing Kostas Tsimikas has delighted his family with his move to Anfield—after a transfer which has been three years in the making.
The Reds have finally strengthened to give themselves depth at left-back, a much-needed new recruit to give Andy Robertson competition and room for rotation and offer Jurgen Klopp the chance to change the position without losing a key tactical component.
Tsimikas has joined for just shy of £12 million, with Olympiakos set to bank an additional 20 per cent of any future sale of the player.
But although the deal has gone through around 24 hours after serious interest in him first emerged, Liverpool’s pursuit of the Greek full-back dates back three seasons, to a loan with Willem II.
The Reds had Pedro Chirivella on loan at the Dutch club in 2017/18 and, naturally, sent scouts to monitor his progress.
While there, they noticed the talents and performances of a certain left-back—who has remained on the ‘monitor’ list ever since.
Tsimikas and Chirivella were key parts of that Willem II team, both playing over 30 times in the Eredivisie—and both can be seen in a number of photos together from that campaign.
Moreover, Chirivella himself has detailed their friendship, explaining why the Greek full-back can be a success on Merseyside.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bhl8gTejp3Q/
But the Reds knowing about him early and watching him was only a part of it—after all, they do the same with hundreds of other potential recruits.
Where Liverpool’s newest addition has really impressed just as much is off the pitch—both with his own personal approach and that of his representatives.
The Echo report that both clubs were happy with the level of discretion shown in sealing the deal, given that Olympiakos were preparing for a match in the Europa League and Liverpool were known to be bidding for Jamal Lewis.
Additionally, Tsimikas is “understood to have extensively studied Andy Robertson” to prepare himself as best as possible for a big-money move to a top-five European league this summer.
He has certainly achieved that, and given his choice of elite talent to learn from, we can hope that Tsimikas already has a good idea of what he’ll be asked to do by Jurgen Klopp.
Not only that, but the incentive to succeed even goes beyond professional pride: Tsimikas has already noted that his brother is a Liverpool fan and he himself followed the Reds in his younger days.
“My brother is a Liverpool fan and he pushed me to come here and sign,” he said. “[As] a kid, I supported Liverpool. For all my family and for my brother, we are very happy for this.”
Just the fact he has signed for Liverpool is enough proof of his talent, particularly given the strike rate Michael Edwards and Co. have over the past few years.
But Tsimikas clearly seems to have the mentality, the drive to improve and plenty of reasons to do so, too—meaning we can be confident Liverpool might just have played another masterclass in perhaps the most difficult transfer window of all.
Fan Comments