Pundit baffled the left-back is struggling despite having perfect environment to settle quickly
Gary Neville has slammed Liverpool defender Milos Kerkez as “naive” and playing “youth-team” football after the Hungarian was withdrawn early in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Kerkez joined the champions for £40 million from Bournemouth last summer. He started at left-back against the Blues but lasted only 55 minutes before being replaced.
The 21-year-old was named in last season’s PFA Team of the Year but has struggled to find form since joining Arne Slot’s side.
“At this point in time he looks like a youth-team player,” Neville said. “I know he’s a good player, but he looks like he’s playing for the youth team, or the Under-21s. He looks so naive; he looks like a baby out there.
“He’s had Premier League experience; it’s not like he’s come in from another country.”
Liverpool’s defeat was their third in a row in all competitions, and second in the Premier League, leaving them a point behind Arsenal despite starting the season with a perfect record in their first five games.
Kerkez has started most games for Liverpool this season, consigning former trusted left-back but now ageing Andy Robertson to a bit-part role, although Robertson has had to be called on several times when Kerkez has looked vulnerable.
Neville said the youngster has had the perfect environment to settle but that hasn’t happened.
“He’s playing alongside Virgil Van Dijk, the best centre half in the world, so if you want to play in a back four, you want to play with great defenders and he is doing so,” said Neville.
“And he’s got players who work hard on that side. It’s not like he’s playing on the right with Salah in front of him, which is always a bit more difficult because you always get a little bit more exposed.
“But I have to say from the first ten minutes of that game against Bournemouth on the first game of the season, he’s struggled.”
