With Liverpool seemingly on the brink of signing Milos Kerkez, we took a look at why he could be the perfect long-term replacement for Andy Robertson.
With the help of our partners at FotMob, we take a deep look into Kerkez’s data and how he compares to Robertson.
Where Milos Kerkez is up to in his career
Having already played in Serbia, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Holland and England, Kerkez is relatively experienced for a 21-year-old footballer.
After signing for Bournemouth in the summer of 2023, he went straight into the team under Andoni Iraola and started 22 Premier League matches in his first year on the south coast.
Having registered two league assists in 2023/24, he went on to improve his figures the following campaign, setting up six goals and scoring twice as he started every single league match.
With Robertson slowly declining and Kostas Tsimikas obviously not a long-term option as a first-choice Liverpool left-back, the Reds look to be turning to Kerkez as their most expensive full-back purchase by some distance.
Traits similar to Andy Robertson
While his numbers significantly dropped this season, with just two assists in 45 appearances, Robertson has been a consistent source of chance-creation from the left since arriving in 2017.
In fact, since he signed for Liverpool, only Trent Alexander-Arnold Son Heung-Min, Mo Salah and Kevin De Bruyne have set up more goals in the Premier League.
During the 2018/19 season, arguably Robertson’s best, the Glaswegian created 1.43 chances per 90 minutes, managed 0.59 successful crosses and had a 15.6 percent cross accuracy.
In comparison, Kerkez is already comparing well against those numbers.
This season, the Hungarian had a 27.5 percent crossing accuracy and put in 1.05 successful crosses per game, placing him in the top 20 percent of comparable players in the last year, according to FotMob.
Meanwhile, he created 0.97 chances per game, down on Robertson’s 1.44 per match this season, but it must be remembered that Kerkez is playing in an inferior, albeit exciting, team.
Carrying the ball
Kerkez having less opportunity than Robertson to demonstrate his attacking talents can be shown by him having 17 fewer touches per 90 and slightly less time in the box.
Despite this, Kerkez shone with the ball at his feet, making more than twice as many successful dribbles as Robertson and managing a 56.4 percent dribble success rate, as opposed to the 31-year-old’s 41.2 percent.
What to work on
If there is a weakness to Kerkez’s game it is in his defending, a common issue for flying full-backs.
There were times at Bournemouth when his one-on-one defending was below par, but when you look at the statistics, he actually fared better than Robertson in this respect.
Kerkez was dribbled past 0.38 times per match on average, whereas Liverpool’s left-back was left behind 0.72 times per 90 minutes.
In fact, even in the 2018/19 season, when Liverpool conceded just 22 goals, Robertson was dribbled past 0.87 times per match.
While the stat is a basic one, it does at least indicate that Kerkez is starting from a good point. However, you do have to remember that Robertson would likely have been caught up the pitch more frequently.
This is due to Liverpool having more of the ball in higher areas. On average, the Reds had 57.9 percent possession (the second-most in the league) while Bournemouth ranked 12th with 48.6 percent of the ball.
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