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.
“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.”
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.
Kerkez started all 38 of the Cherries’ Premier League games in the 2024-25 season, helping them to a club-record total of 56 points in the top flight.
Kerkez is now at a giant European club once more.
Four years on from his arrival in Milan, will it work out for the full-back this time around?
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