Kostas Tsimikas ‘misses’ Liverpool and opens door to return – but how’s Roma loan actually going? | OneFootball

Kostas Tsimikas says ‘next year is a different story’ while assessing his prospects of returning to Liverpool after his loan spell at Roma, but how is he doing for the Italian side?

After the signing of Milos Kerkez from Bournemouth in the summer, Tsimikas was relegated to third-choice left-back for Liverpool, remaining behind Andy Robertson in the pecking order as well. Thus, the Reds sanctioned a loan move for the Greece international to spend the rest of this season with Roma.

As things stand, by the end of his loan spell, Robertson’s contract will have expired, whereas Tsimikas will have one year remaining on his deal, which has led some to speculate that the Scotsman will be let go and his old deputy will return to back up Kerkez.

For Tsimikas, the future remains uncertain, but the 29-year-old has opened up on his feelings about Liverpool and certainly didn’t sound like someone with no intention of going back.

He told The Athletic: “I miss the city. I lived there for five years. I love everything in Liverpool. They have a special part of my heart. The people are very kind, some of the kindest I’ve ever met in football. They’d always try to support the team, in good, in bad, they would always do their best to try to help you.

“I want everything for this club, because from day one, I was fully committed there. I was the Greek Scouser and I always will be, I’ll keep it for my whole life.”

Asked if he would prefer to be reintegrated by Liverpool next year, Tsimikas replied: “You never know. The most important thing for me is to be healthy, to train hard, to play more games. Next year is a different story for me. I want to be successful, I want to win things. Only God knows what will happen in the next year.”

Is Tsimikas earning Liverpool return?

But while he clings onto a glimmer of hope of representing Liverpool again, Tsimikas will have to prove himself with Roma – and he hasn’t been the most convincing there so far.

Tsimikas started his Roma career well, making an assist on his first start against Nice in the Europa League with a good cross from the left-hand side.

But he has recently lost his place in their starting lineups, despite their only other natural left-back, Angelino, being injured. A right-back, Wesley, has tended to start on the left instead of Tsimikas recently and has been playing quite well, making it harder for the Liverpool loanee to get into the team.

From his six Serie A appearances so far, of which only two have been starts, Tsimikas has made four tackles and two interceptions. He has made 11 crosses in the other phase of the game.

He hasn’t been awful by any stretch of the imagination, but he will need to show more consistency over the course of his loan spell to give himself the best chance of earning the right to play at a high level next season as well – whether that’s by convincing Roma to negotiate a permanent deal or Liverpool to reintegrate him.

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