Milos Kerkez opens up on life at Anfield and message he received from Andy Robertson

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It is easy to forget that Milos Kerkez is only 21 years old. The Liverpool left-back was named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year last season before making a big-money move this summer.

Signed from Bournemouth for a fee of around $54 million (£40 million), Kerkez has started every Premier League game for the Reds this season (though he was taken off before half-time against Burnley after picking up a yellow card).

But while there has been a big step up in the size of club that he is representing, the former AZ Alkmaar star has insisted that he is not feeling any more pressure to perform.

"It's the same for me," Kerkez told reporters after Liverpool's Merseyside derby win over Everton. "I'm just here to do my job. I want to improve; I want to give everything for the badge.

"Obviously you have to adapt and the coach and the players are helping me [with that] a lot, so I'm improving a lot every day.

"I'm playing a bit different here than [when] I played in Bournemouth but I'm not listening too much to outside noise. I'm just following what the coach is telling me so what he tells me I'm doing every week and that's what will keep me playing.

"Sometimes I'm dropping lower to play and to keep the ball. In Bournemouth, I played I would say a bit more on the higher line and had a bit more freedom.

Liverpool left-back Milos Kerkez.

Liverpool left-back Milos Kerkez.

"But here, you play more for the team, for points and to win so you have to look for the team. That's more important than individual performances, so we have to do what the coach tells us and that's why we're winning games."

Andy Robertson said last week that it was his job to help Kerkez fulfil his potential and the Hungary international says he has a "really good" relationship with the Scotland captain.

"Before the game [against Everton] he motivated me, told me: 'Go outside and do your thing that you were doing last season', so he gave me a bit of a push," Kerkez explained.

"Then after the game, he congratulated me and told me that I should keep going like that. We are good. He's a legend who did amazing things, won everything and still has quality.

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"It's not like he's not here. He's a squad player. This is Liverpool, we're competing. He's pushing me, I'm pushing him and I think that's important to have in a big club like this."

Kerkez also believes that he is starting to create bonds on the pitch with those around him. After so many changes among the Liverpool roster in the summer, it was always going to be the case that it would take time to gel.

"With Virgil [van Dijk], I think I'm building a good connection," Kerkez said. "Obviously we are now playing more and I think we are defending well.

"Everyone is adapting to each other, even Flo (Wirtz) and Alex (Isak) and everyone who arrived so everything needs a bit of time to gel in. Obviously now we're getting results but I think in the future it's going to be really, really bright.

"At the end of the day, the result and points are important. Even if the game is sometimes not going our way, we have to continue to win the game. We always find solutions so I hope that continues. We have a lot of big quality players so we have to continue."

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