The Liverpool boss discussed the progress of Milos Kerkez after his £40 million summer arrival.
Arne Slot believes that Milos Kerkez will continue to show the potential that convinced Liverpool to sign him.
The Reds splashed out £40 million on the left-back from AFC Bournemouth in the summer transfer window. Kerkez was one of the standout full-backs in the Premier League last season and earned a place in the PFA Team of the Year.
Kerkez is still relatively inexperienced in terms of his career. And that is why Slot is confident there is plenty more to come from Kerkez, who is expected to start when Liverpool face Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday.
What’s been said
The Reds head coach said at his pre-match press conference: “This is what you get if you play longer together with your teammates. This is what you get if you keep playing those players, even if they are maybe in sometimes having moments in games that are not as good as other moments, or games that have not been as good as other games.
“This is also normal for younger players and the only thing you can do as a manager is keep trusting them and keep believing in them because we know, we signed [him], we saw his potential and we knew - and it already has been shown - that potential will be seen if you keep playing them.
“But there are a lot, a lot of games to be played and for him, it was the first time the combination of Premier League and Champions League, that's why I'm also so happy to have Robbo [Andy Robertson] in the squad because he has helped the team on multiple occasions as well. But definitely Milos is another example of a very young player we've signed where the best of him is still to come and he's already developed this season.”
Kerkez has made a total of 31 appearances for Liverpool this season. Having been first-choice left-back ahead of vice-captain Andy Robertson, the former AC Milan defender needs to play only 10 more times to equal the number of matches he racked up at Bournemouth last term.
He believes the adaptation of representing one of the biggest clubs in the world should not go underestimated. Fellow summer arrivals Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and Alexander Isak had difficult starts.
"Liverpool is one of the biggest clubs in the world," Kerkez said after the 4-1 win over Newcastle United last weekend. "When you come in you need a bit of time for adaptation. Everyone helped us a lot since the first day. It took us a bit of time but we accept the challenge, work hard every day, focus, don't listen to the outside noise and just focus on improving."
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