Andoni Iraola says £40m Liverpool star will explode under him – ‘big potential’ | OneFootball

Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola has said that Milos Kerkez will become an Anfield star under him.

Kerkez joined Liverpool from Bournemouth – Iraola’s former club – in the summer of 2025.

Liverpool, who had Arne Slot as their manager at the time, paid the Cherries £40million for the Hungary international left-back.

During his time at Bournemouth, Kerkez established himself as one of the best left-backs in the Premier League.

However, the 22-year-old endured a rather underwhelming debut season for Liverpool in 2025/26 and was even behind Andy Robertson in the pecking order at one point under then manager Slot.

With Robertson leaving for Tottenham Hotspur at the end of last season, Kerkez is now the undisputed number one left-back for Liverpool, having started all three of the Reds’ Premier League games so far this season.

Liverpool boss Iraola has full faith in Kerkez and believes that he will fulfil his potential under him at Anfield.

Andoni Iraola raves about Liverpool left-back Milos Kerkez

Iraola said about Kerkez, as quoted on BBC Sport: “I think Milos played really well the other day.

“I know him very well and what he can achieve.

“He still has big potential and he has good amount of experience in the Premier League and international team.

“I trust him.

“He has a lot to improve, like all the players, otherwise there is no bigger ceiling.

“I am ready to try to help him to become a better player.”

Jamie Carragher and Danny Murphy hammer Milos Kerkez

While Iraola has full faith in Kerkez, two of Liverpool’s former players, Jamie Carragher and Danny Murphy, do not think that the Hungarian star is good enough.

Carragher said on The Overlap: “Their understanding of the game is really, really poor.

“You’re watching the game and thinking, ‘Why has he done that?’

“I described Kerkez last season – and it was his first season, maybe it was a bit harsh at the time – he’s the Darwin Nunez of full-backs.

“It’s just like ‘head down and run’, everything Kerkez does is 100 miles an hour.

“You know, when you’re on a football pitch, you’re very rarely running as fast as you can.

“When you’re getting chased, that’s running as fast as you can, but you’re not running as fast on the pitch because you know you’re going to have to stop, change direction, you’re going to have to swap the ball… but he does everything 100 miles an hour – every time he closes someone down, he passes it – bang!

“They’ve brought in Kerkez for £40million.

“He’s had his first season, it wasn’t amazing, but right, you go: ‘OK, Iraola’s come in from Bournemouth, he knows him, he’s still our left-back. Andy Robertson moved on, we had another left-back on loan, so we’re probably not going to spend another £40million on another. He’s our left-back, let him have another year.’”

Murphy said on talkSPORT: “The bigger problem for Liverpool because at times at Anfield, they are going to dominate the ball so much that the press isn’t going to be that important.

“The bigger problem is that the full-backs aren’t good enough at Liverpool.

“They are not good enough.

“They are not going to get better, it is not in them.

“They are 100mph.

“They are working hard but their level of crossing and choice of final pass is really poor.

“It looks worse for the Liverpool fans when you have been so used to seeing two of the best we’ve ever seen in Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, in terms of assists, quality and picking the final pass.

“They have brought in two full-backs, who aren’t as good.

“I think they are okay defensively, not brilliant, but they are okay.

“And going forward, the best teams have really good full-backs on the ball because teams clog up the middle of the pitch, so the space is wide.

“Your full-backs get so much of the ball, and Frimpong and Kerkez just don’t have that quality that you need to open up teams.”