The Data Dive - Milos Kerkez
Liverpool’s Left Back Situation: Is Milos Kerkez the right fit? A high-level look at the data behind Liverpool’s primary target.
Liverpool have been linked with Milos Kerkez pretty consistently this season. Club legend and usually reliable Andrew Robertson has experienced a drop in form this campaign despite Liverpool winning the Premier League. If rumours are to be believed, left back will be an area Arne Slot hopes to strengthen this summer.
Reputable Italian journalist Matteo Maretto first reported on the links to Kerkez in November, confirming their interest. Fabrizio Romano and Paul Joyce have also confirmed Liverpool hold an interest in the player and links have only continued to pick up as the campaign reaches its conclusion. If you ask any journalist who covers Liverpool in the transfer market, it seems that Milos Kerkez is the name on everyone’s lips.
Kerkez has had an impressive season for Bournemouth in 2024-2025, racking up five assists and chipping in with two league goals. His high energy and determination in both his offensive and defensive duties has attracted the interest of many of the top clubs in Europe with Liverpool, Manchester City, Real Madrid, and Manchester United mooted to hold an interest in the Hungarian.
There has been no indication of which club will move their interest forward in an attempt to reach an agreement with the Cherries but there is reason to believe that Liverpool may be best placed to strike a deal.
Firstly, Richard Hughes will be very familiar with Kerkez given the fact that it is he who brought the exciting full back to Bournemouth from AZ Alkmaar in July 2023. It would seem logical that Richard Hughes and Bournemouth maintain a good relationship that would be of benefit to the club at the negotiating table.
Kerkez would also be accompanied by fellow Hungarian national teammate and close friend Dominik Szoboszlai at Anfield and so one would think that Kerkez may feel this will help him settle into life on Merseyside. Kerkez also has the same agent as Federico Chiesa, and therefore Liverpool will be well aware of what’s needed to conclude a deal on that front.
If Liverpool do decide to pursue the transfer that would see Kerkez moving to Merseyside, the only stumbling block remains the price tag placed on his head. If reports are to be believed, Liverpool are looking at an investment of £40-50 million to sign their primary target. That’s not exactly spare change for a fullback but the club may take the view that at just 21 years old, Kerkez would represent value in the transfer market as it is quite likely that his best years are ahead of him.
He also has an exemplary injury history as he has never missed a game due to injury. He has featured in more minutes for Bournemouth than any other player this season.
Liverpool may yet look elsewhere if they feel that there is too much work to be done this summer to justify investing so heavily in a fullback, especially given the fact that they already have two Premier League level fullbacks in the squad.
There have been links to Rayan Aït-Nouri as well as Ajax youngster Jorrel Hato but the feeling amongst a majority of the fanbase is that Kerkez is the preference. Liverpool would likely need to move on Kostas Tsimikas to make room for any new additions in that position regardless.
So what does the data suggest Kerkez may bring to the newly crowned Champions? How does he compare to Liverpool’s current first choice left back? And are there any facets of Kerkez’ game that will need improving if he’s to be the heir to Andrew Robertson? Let’s take a dive into his data gathered so far this season.
Offensive Metrics:
As we can see from Kerkez’ pizza chart, he excels in the attacking aspect of his game. He creates 0.25 goal creating actions per 90 from live ball situations which is in the top 65% in Europe’s top 5 leagues. He also creates 2 open play shots for his teammates per 90 minutes which is helped by his cross completion percentage of over 20%. He delivers just under 2 deliveries into the penalty area per 90 minutes.
Kerkez has a better than average progressive carry distance and is dispossessed when in possession less than most other fullbacks. The data here suggests that Kerkez likes to progress the ball by carrying it into the opponents half, he delivers plenty of high quality crosses, many of which reach a teammate.
In terms of areas within his offensive game which Kerkez could improve at, he completes less than 1 key pass per 90 minutes. He also completes just 0.5 successful dribbles per 90. This suggests that outside of his crossing ability, Kerkez does not complete many short passes leading to a shot. This could be down to the quality of Bournemouth’s attacking runs or it could suggest that Kerkez prefers to stay wide and cross the ball rather than coming inside to connect play with intricate passing
.Kerkez has room to improve his ability to dribble past opposition players although his attacking output suggests that Kerkez prefers to invade space rather than creating space for himself off a dribble.
Defensive Metrics:
As we can also see from his pizza chart, Kerkez is relatively efficient in his defending but there is some slight cause for concern. Firstly on a positive note, he puts up 1.2 interceptions per game adjusted for possession. He also completes over 60% of tackles against opposition players attempting to dribble past him. He’s also quite well disciplined, giving away less than 1 foul per 90 minutes.
There is some cause for concern though when you notice that Kerkez does not make anywhere near enough tackles when adjusted for possession. This could be because opposition teams prefer to attack Bournemouth’s right side rather than on the side of Kerkez however you would still expect Kerkez to put more challenges in. To conclude, he makes a lot of interceptions and completes his tackles more often than not however he does not attempt as many challenges as one would usually expect from a top level fullback.
Pass Map:
As we can see from Kerkez’ pass map he’s quite inconsistent in his passing. In terms of regular passing he completes over 85% of them. Most of his attempted passes are made in the defensive third of the pitch and his pass map indicates that when Kerkez is in possession and in his own defensive third he likes to recycle possession through the middle, often passing back to his center backs or making short passes into midfield. In that regard, the visual presents much of what you would expect from a fullback in the Premier League.
Unfortunately as Kerkez progresses up the pitch and towards the middle third his passing metrics become much more alarming. He’s still quite proficient in regular passing play but his progressive pass completion rate of just 40% is not ideal.
To clarify, Kerkez attempts much more progressive passes (specifically long range passes) than most other fullbacks. Data gathered from Fbref indicates that Kerkez attempts almost 6 long passes per 90 (in the top 65%) however he only completes roughly 35% of the long passes he attempts.
It’s clear that Kerkez attempts to influence the game by getting Bournemouth up the pitch using long range passing but that the passes are rarely completed. Of course, this could be a tactical decision made by Andoni Iraola to create controlled chaos and to win the second ball higher up the pitch rather than attempting to break down opposition defenses slowly and therefore risking conceding possession of the ball in dangerous areas.
This is indicated by the fact that when you track just the progressive passes that he attempts, his expected pass completion percentage is just 44%. The issue is that despite the fact that he would only be expected to complete 44% of his progressive passes, he still underachieves this metric by roughly 4%.
In general play, Kerkez does not actually get involved in the buildup too much. He only attempts approximately 45 passes per 90 minutes which is in the 70th percentile compared to other fullbacks in Europe’s top 5 leagues.
His total pass completion percentage of 75% indicates that Iraola is aware of this hole in Kerkez’ game and therefore prefers his team to largely bypass using him in the buildup, choosing instead to utilize Kerkez in other areas of the pitch. If the Hungarian is to adapt to life under a team expected to keep possession like Liverpool though, he will need to improve on his passing efficiency from this season.
Player Comparison - Milos Kerkez | Andrew Robertson
Now let’s take a look at the data analytics of Milos Kerkez compared to current first choice left back Andrew Robertson. It’s clear from first sight that in general (at least statistically speaking) Kerkez is quite a different player to Robertson. He completes far fewer passes and key passes while also conceding more fouls than the Scotsman.
They’re quite similar in terms of tackles per 90 minutes when adjusted for possession, while also performing competitively in terms of their progressive carry distance, deliveries into the penalty area per 90 minutes, and very little sets them apart when looking at how often they are disposessed.
What’s also clear though is that Kerkez excels in his attacking duties more than Robertson has this season. He’s almost twice as accurate with his crossing when compared with Robertson as well as completing more of his dribbles. This has seen Kerkez contribute far more to his teams goal scoring.
Defensively there are also positive signs that Kerkez could be an improvement of Robertson’s current form. He makes more interceptions per 90 than Robbo when adjusted for possession as well as completing 62% of dribblers tackled compared to Robertson’s 55%.
In conclusion, there are areas of Kerkez’ game which will need to improve if he is to succeed Robertson at Anfield (namely his passing) but in general he has performed admirably and has some facets to his game that Robertson would struggle greatly to replicate at this stage in his career.
The Eye Test
Finally, I would like to point out that pure data analysis alone is not enough to compare one player to the next. The eye test (or simply watching how a player plays the game) is probably just as important.
Anyone who watches Bournemouth regularly will tell you that Kerkez’ value cannot be read out of a data analysis sheet. The data we’ve covered here doesn’t even attempt to touch on what Kerkez’ main attribute is; Energy.
The criticism that Robertson has received this season is not really one of his ability, it’s an acknowledgement that after 8 years at Anfield it seems that Robbo’s legs have gone. That is where there is an opportunity for Kerkez to usurp Andy to become Liverpool’s first choice left back.
The Hungarian international is front footed , extremely energetic and pacey, and is an elite level athlete with the end product to boot. As the old saying goes, the best ability is availability and Kerkez is available at all times. It is a mixture of raw athletic ability, performance data & analysis, and a literally perfect injury history that makes Kerkez the primary target in what is fast becoming a major area of need for what is set to become Liverpool’s most transformative Summer in years.
Thanks to @Mclachbot and @ChicagoDmitry for the data visuals in this article. Data comes from www.Fbref.com. Thanks to @ScoutNationHD for the compilation used here.