Liverpool's Left-Back Dilemma: Kerkez's Struggles Exposed

Liverpool’s summer of upheaval was supposed to reset the club. It only half did.

Four new faces arrived, including Ronald Araujo and Bradley Barcola, but the scale of change never matched the scale of last season’s collapse under Arne Slot. For all the talk of a new era, much of the old squad remains in place, and so do several of the old problems.

Andoni Iraola’s appointment promises a different edge, a different energy. His first big statement came on Wednesday night: a 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid. A good result, a badly needed one. But it also shone a harsh light on an issue Liverpool thought they had already solved.

Kerkez was signed as the future – but the present looks shaky

Liverpool poured more than £450 million into their squad last summer. Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz headlined the spending, the marquee arrivals meant to drag the club back towards the top. Instead, the team stumbled.

They lacked direction. They lacked bite. They finished fifth in the Premier League and Slot paid with his job. His departure didn’t erase the decisions he made, and one of the biggest was at left-back.

Kerkez arrived as the long-term heir to Andy Robertson. Slot wanted him, pushed for him, and got him. Yet when the season started, it was still Robertson who carried the load. The Scot simply played better, week after week, and the manager kept turning back to the old reliable option.

Robertson’s importance was so obvious that some supporters even expected the club to reward him with a new contract. That never came. Instead, Liverpool moved Kostas Tsimikas back into the frame as cover, and Kerkez was left to grow into the role he was supposed to own.

Wednesday night suggested that growth is nowhere near complete.

Atletico expose a flaw Liverpool can’t ignore

Against Atletico, Kerkez didn’t just struggle. He cost Liverpool.

His lapse on Marcos Llorente was decisive. The Atleti midfielder escaped him, punished the space, and Liverpool conceded. One mistake, but the kind of mistake that sticks when you’re already under the microscope.

Kerkez offers plenty going forward. As a wing-back, his energy and ambition with the ball make sense. In a back four, it’s a different job. Positioning matters more. Timing matters more. One misread run can unravel an entire defensive line.

Right now, he looks like a player still learning those details, not one ready to anchor the left side of a defence for a club with Liverpool’s ambitions.

January looms – and left-back can’t be an afterthought

Liverpool’s squad still has obvious gaps. The starting XI is dotted with question marks, and if the club sit out the January window, the risk is clear: rivals will accelerate while they stand still.

Transfer talk has already started to swirl around Anfield. Ben Jacobs has even floated the idea that Liverpool are planning ahead for a future replacement for Alexis Mac Allister in 2027. That’s long-term thinking. Sensible, maybe. But the short-term view is just as urgent.

Kerkez’s performance against Atletico pushed the left-back issue closer to the top of the agenda. Supporters already saw signs of inconsistency last season. If those erratic displays continue into the winter, patience will run thin.

Across the summer, Liverpool were repeatedly linked with new left-backs. Those rumours never turned into a signing. By the time January arrives, it will be hard to argue against going back into the market – not for another project, but for a defender with the experience and defensive maturity to start immediately in a back four.

Kerkez might still grow into the role Liverpool imagined for him. He’s 22, talented, and far from a lost cause. But this team cannot afford to gamble an entire season on what he might become.

Not when every dropped point could define where they finish, and how quickly Iraola’s rebuild truly takes shape.