Milos Kerkez was due to have been officially confirmed as a Liverpool player on Tuesday, but by Thursday morning there has still not been an announcement from the club.
The Hungarian left back flew to Merseyside on Monday to undertake his medical, conduct media duties and sign his contract.
UPDATE: Kerkez’s signing has now been confirmed
It was expected that Kerkez would, therefore, be confirmed as a Liverpool player late on Tuesday or Wednesday. However, that hasn’t happened, leaving fans puzzled.
Now, informed journalist David Ornstein of the Athletic has explained the reason for the delay, saying that are some “technical bits and bobs to sort out.”
“It’s not completed just yet,” said Ornstein. “They had some technical bits and bobs to sort out.
“But, as we knew, he flew over to the UK from Beldgade to undergo his medical and it’s all just being finalised so we can expect an announcement in due course.”
Quite what those technical bits are, and when the announcement will now be, is anyone’s guess.
The agreement for Kerkez was reported to have been made between Liverpool and Bournemouth last week, with most reports suggesting a fee of £40 million for the 21-year-old.
Personal terms are said to have been agreed a long time ago, with a five year contract part of those.
Ornstein adds that “as far as we know he [Kerkez] was their top target at left back and it will be interesting to see what they do with the other players [Andy Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas] there.”
Why Milos Kerkez is Liverpool’s ideal left-back – Andy Robertson MkII
With the help of our partners at FotMob, we take a deep look into Kerkez’s data and how he compares to Robertson.
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.
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