Liverpool target picks perfect time to justify Arne Slot interest by gunning down Man City

Saturday was a good day for Liverpool in the Premier League title race, as the Reds won and both Manchester City and Arsenal lost. Arne Slot's men looked as though they might join their title rivals in dropping points after falling behind to Brighton at Anfield, but goals from Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah secured a comeback victory.

Liverpool started the Premier League weekend in second in the table having topped the standings for much of the season, and the club finds itself back in first place, with a two-point cushion, following City's loss.

Pep Guardiola bemoaned an injury crisis in his press conference ahead of the game, but still fielded a team full of Premier League winners and had Kevin De Bruyne, Savinho and Jeremy Doku among his substitutes. That wasn't enough, though, as Bournemouth ran out 2-1 winners at the Vitalty Stadium through goals from Antoine Semenyo and Evanilson.

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Both of Bournemouth's assists against City came from 20-year-old left-back Milos Kerkez, and his brilliant display comes just days after he was linked with a transfer to Liverpool.

It was reported by TEAMtalk that the Reds are keen to sign a new left-back as competition for Andy Robertson, who will turn 31 in March. It is claimed that Liverpool has been tracking Kerkez for some time now, and has already done a 'detailed evaluation' of the Liverpool star.

Kerkez joined Bournemouth in 2023, but it doesn't sound as though he will be sticking around on the South Coast for much longer, with the report adding that the Cherries are already resigned to losing the Hungary international, with offers from top clubs expected next summer, and potentially as early as January.

Manchester United and Liverpool are both said to be admirers of Kerkez, with United reportedly registering interest during the 2024 summer transfer window, only to be discouraged by Bournemouth's $52million asking price.

Speaking after Kerkez's influential display against City, Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola said of the left-back: "He has to continue, he's so young. He has to get experience to get more mature defensively. He gives a lot of offensive volume, today he got two assists."

Meanwhile, at Liverpool, Arne Slot has been rotating Robertson with Kostas Tsimikas this season, with Robertson starting 10 games and Tsimikas lining up five times — including in Liverpool's 2-1 win over Brighton. Slot was asked whether he is currently facing a left-back dilemma ahead of Liverpool's game against the Seagulls but responded: "I wouldn’t say it is a dilemma. There are other positions where we have rotated.

"It probably also has to do with Robbo's [Robertson's] pre-season. He had no pre-season because he came back injured from the Euros so he missed almost the whole pre-season. For most of them it was only two weeks but for him it was only a few days.

"Kostas did really well in that period of time so it has to do with the quality Kostas has in that position but it also has to do with Robbo missing pre-season. That's why we started rotating from the start a bit. If a player has missed pre-season he can't play three games in a row. That's the situation.

"It was good for Robbo to play against Arsenal and against Brighton in midweek. That is making sure he is getting into that rhythm of playing twice a week."