December was a significant month in Andy Robertson's Liverpool career, but whether this will be his last one at the club remains to be seen
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 17: Andrew Robertson of Liverpool celebrates his goal to make it 1-0 with Virgil van Dijk of Liverpool during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD1 match between Liverpool FC and Atletico de Madrid at Anfield on September 17, 2025 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Michael Regan - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
Andy Robertson celebrates putting Liverpool in front against Atletico Madrid at Anfield in September. It remains the last of the 12 goals he has scored for the club
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While there’s still plenty of time left in Andy Robertson’s career, it is fair to say the modern-day Liverpool legend, at 31, is closer to the end of it than he is to the start.
And when the day comes for the Scotland skipper to sit back and reflect on what he’s achieved in the game, November 2025 will be significant, as last month was the month he led his country to their first World Cup finals in 28 years. But in terms of his time at Liverpool, it was eight years ago, in December 2017, that proved just as noteworthy.
With the eight major domestic, European and world trophies that have followed, it is easy to forget that Robertson’s early months at Anfield were difficult.
He threw up on the first day of pre-season as he tackled Andreas Kornmayer’s fearsome and notorious lactate test. And while Jurgen Klopp was not present to see a mortified Robertson being sick on the Melwood training pitches, the then Reds boss certainly heard about the situation, calling his new £8m buy from Hull City ‘Mr Sick Boy or something like that’, according to the player himself, after they met for the first time in the days that followed.
Klopp being Klopp, no harm would have been intended, but while the German’s man-management skills were legendary, new players were never given a free ride and Robertson clearly had to work hard to gain his trust.
Just 22 at the time, the young defender made just three appearances in Liverpool’s first 22 games in all competitions of the 2017-18 campaign.
“It was tough,” said Robertson, who five years earlier had been playing in the Scottish Third Division with Queen’s Park after being released by Celtic for being too small, around that time. “It was a new situation for me and I probably didn’t deal with it very well initially. I hate not being involved.
“I believe in myself and I always felt I could be out there contributing, so being up in the stand, watching the game with my family, wasn’t a nice experience.
“I was a real pain to be around, to be honest. My girlfriend probably hated me for those first couple of months but she was one of the people who kept me going. I hadn’t come through an academy system, where boys are used to being in and out; I’d worked my way through the ranks and was used to playing matches.
“When I got my chance, I knew I had to take it.”
That chance arrived on December 2, 2017. Safe to say he took it.
BRIGHTON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 02: Bruno Saltor of Brighton and Hove Albion tackles Andy Robertson of Liverpool during the Premier League match between Brighton and Hove Albion and Liverpool at Amex Stadium on December 2, 2017 in Brighton, England. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
Bruno Saltor of Brighton & Hove Albion tackles Andy Robertson of Liverpool during the Premier League match at the Amex Stadium on December 2, 2017
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With Alberto Moreno injured, Robertson was selected for the trip to Brighton & Hove Albion, and he was excellent as the Reds ran out 5-1 winners. From then on he never looked back. A near ever-present in Klopp’s line-up, he started 26 of Liverpool’s remaining 31 games across the Premier League and Champions League.
While silverware eluded him in the final of that latter competition, it would soon start to arrive in droves as Robertson went on to establish himself as one of the finest left-backs in the world and in Anfield history.
But for the first time since those testing, early days on Merseyside, he can no longer be considered first choice. The arrival of the £40m Milos Kerkez has put paid to that.
Kerkez’s signing was a welcome one. After all, he was deservedly named in the Premier League Team of the Year after a barnstorming campaign with Bournemouth. But as Robertson knows only too well, the step up to Liverpool Football Club is something different altogether and Kerkez has, at times, struggled.
And it was telling last month, with Arne Slot attempting to avoid a fifth straight league defeat for the first time in the club’s history since 1953, that he recalled the veteran Scot. Robertson responded by helping Liverpool to a 2-0 victory over Aston Villa and then impressed again as Real Madrid were beaten 1-0 in the Champions League at Anfield. It was a timely reminder of his talents.
But what followed two weeks later, after Scotland booked their place at the 2026 World Cup with a thrilling 4-2 win over Denmark on a rollercoaster night at Hampden Park, was a reminder of why Robertson remains such an important member of the squad off the field, too.
Unprompted, he brought up the tragic death of his Reds team-mate Diogo Jota in the summer, when conducting a post-match interview with the BBC: "I’ve hid it well but today I’ve been in bits. I know the age I’m at this is my last chance of a World Cup and I couldn’t get my mate Diogo Jota out of my head today. We spoke so much together about this World Cup.
"He missed out on (2022 World Cup in) Qatar through injury and I missed out because Scotland never went. We always discussed what it’d be like going to this World Cup and I know he’ll be somewhere smiling over me tonight.
"I couldn’t get him out of my head the whole day so I was in a bit of trouble in my room. But I hid it well from the boys and I’m just so glad it’s ended up this way."
It was a brave and beautiful interview that resonated with Liverpool supporters and without knowing how the dressing room feels, it is one that likely resonated with his team-mates, too.
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - NOVEMBER 18: Andrew Robertson of Scotland is interviewed after the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier match between Scotland and Denmark at Hampden Park on November 18, 2025 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Alex Livesey - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
Andy Robertson brought up his late, former Liverpool team-mate Diogo Jota, unprompted, during his brave and beautiful interview after he captained Scotland to the World Cup finals
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How long Robertson remains part of the Reds’ dressing room remains to be seen. The vice-captain is out of contract at the end of the season and speaking after the 3-0 defeat at Manchester City last month, he admitted that no talks over a new deal had taken place.
"I think last season everyone was bored of talking about the three lads (Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold), but for me the relationship between me and the club has been a wonderful one,” said Robertson, who was subject to interest from the likes of Atletico Madrid in the summer.
"They've done everything for me in terms of me and my family. I think I've not been too bad for them in terms of signing from Hull for £8m and what I've done. Whatever happens will happen behind closed doors and I'm relaxed about the whole situation. If it is my last year, then it's my last year. If it's not, then so be it.
"But I think obviously I had a bit of a stressful summer in terms of decisions and things like that. And I've said to myself to just try and enjoy the next few months and then obviously it will start probably taking over my life. I've got no doubt about that."
Kerkez has been bought to be Liverpool’s long-term left-back - his initial difficulties do not change that. But what better mentor to have than Robertson? Someone who has been exactly in the same position as him and emerged better and stronger? And someone, as demonstrated by his displays against Villa and Madrid, and more recently in the 1-0 Champions League triumph at Inter, that is still capable of performing at the top level?
And given the change the dressing room has experienced, would it be wise to remove one of its leaders, one of its culture-setters, at this time? That decision ultimately will rest with Slot and Richard Hughes. Or as a former Reds full-back Jason McAteer suggested recently, when addressing reports linking Robertson to his boyhood heroes Celtic, perhaps it should rest with the player himself.
"It is a funny one with Andy Robertson and Liverpool, really,” said McAteer, "I think from how he has served Liverpool in his career, I think it will more be a case of Liverpool giving him the option. They won't stand in his way if he wants a move to Celtic.
"I am sure he will be offered a new deal, but obviously on different terms. Liverpool has come to the point where Manchester City were last season, where they have exhausted their team, really. Jurgen Klopp exhausted the team, but he had great success with (James) Milner, (Jordan) Henderson, (Adam) Lallana etc.
"When Milner left, I worried for Liverpool. A lot of football goes on in the dressing room and on the training ground. Leaders are few and far between."
Whatever happens with Robertson over the next six months, he has without doubt proved to be that for Liverpool Football Club.