Andy Gray wonders if Liverpool ‘too big’ for Milos Kerkez after Atletico Madrid blunder | OneFootball

Andy Gray has reacted to Milos Kerkez’s mistake for Liverpool against Atletico Madrid by asking whether the Reds are too big a club for the left-back.

The former Everton and Aston Villa striker was not particularly impressed with the display of Kerkez in the first half of the Champions League game between Liverpool and Atletico Madrid at Anfield on Wednesday evening.

Gray was on co-commentary duty on talkSPORT for the match, which Liverpool won 2-1.

Atletico scored the opening goal of the match after 17 minutes through Marcos Llorente.

Kerkez was at fault for the goal, as Llorente burst beyond the Hungary international left-back into a gap in the Liverpool defence to get on the end of a through-ball from Julian Alvarez and scored past goalkeeper Alisson.

Although the 22-year-old played his role in Liverpool’s equaliser on 40 minutes, Gray believes that Kerkez does not look like the player he was at Bournemouth.

Liverpool paid Bournemouth £40million in the summer of 2025 to sign Kerkez.

Andy Gray gives verdict on Liverpool left-back Milos Kerkez

Gray said on talkSPORT (8:49pm, September 9, 2026): “The Kerkez I saw at Bournemouth is not the Kerkez I am watching right now.

“That’s what I would say.

“I was not surprised Liverpool went and bought him when he was playing for Bournemouth – one of the best full-backs in the league by a distance.

“But he hasn’t quite settled into that role where he was there.

“I don’t know whether…

“Sometimes a club’s too big for people.

“A club is too big for people.

“I hope that’s not the case with Kerkez.

“I really like him as a footballer, and I am glad he made a certain bit of amends with the equaliser he was involved in.”

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher also recently shared his doubts on Kerkez.

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.’”