Liverpool sign Kerkez for £40m

BBC Online:

Liverpool have taken their summer spending to about £170m with the signing of left-back Milos Kerkez from Bournemouth in a deal worth £40m. The 21-year-old Hungary international has signed a five-year contract with the Reds.

Kerkez is Liverpool’s third major signing of the transfer window, following the arrival of attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz and right-back Jeremie Frimpong, both from Bayer Leverkusen.

Liverpool paid a club record £116m, made up of an initial £100m and a further £16m in potential add-ons, for German interntaional Wirtz and £29.5m for Dutchman Frimpong. Hungary Under-21 keeper Armin Pecsi has also arrived at Anfield for a fee of up to £1.5m.

“It’s a real honour for me, a privilege to come to play for one of the biggest clubs in the world, [the] biggest club in England. I’m just really, really happy and excited,” said Kerkez.

“After this, I’ll go home and in my hometown enjoy a few days, and then I can’t really wait to come back and put the training kit on and start to train and prepare for the season.”

Liverpool will also sign Georgia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili this summer, having agreed a deal to sign him from Valencia for a fee of £25m plus £4m in add-ons last summer. It is a major step in the career of the left-back, but Kerkez has played for a European ‘super club’ before.

In early 2021 he received a phone call from AC Milan legend Paolo Maldini, who convinced him to join the Serie A side.

As the 17-year-old Kerkez said at the time, you don’t turn down Maldini. With hindsight, he possibly wishes he had.

The Hungarian never started a competitive match for Milan and a year later was shipped off to AZ Alkmaar in the Dutch Eredivisie.

Bournemouth saw potential in the market and took a chance on Kerkez by signing him for an undisclosed fee in July 2023. The gamble paid off.