--- source: thedugout.football generated: 2026-07-28T13:52:40.754Z last_updated: 2026-07-28T11:00:00+00:00 data_provider: API-Football canonical: https://thedugout.football/clubs/liverpool/news/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGl2ZXJwb29sZWNoby5jby51ay9zcG9ydC9mb290YmFsbC9mb290YmFsbC1uZXdzL21pbG9zLWtlcmtlei1pbnRlcnZpZXctbGl2ZXJwb29sLWlyYW9sYS0zNDM1OTg4Mw --- # Milos Kerkez on 'special' Andoni Iraola - 'He's the perfect fit for Liverpool' - **Source:** - **Published:** 28 Jul - **Club:** Liverpool - **Original URL:** https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/milos-kerkez-interview-liverpool-iraola-34359883 As he chats on the rooftop bar of a Chicago hotel, Milos Kerkez, with his infectious energy makes one thing clear: Liverpool are intent on righting the wrongs of last season. Before that, though, the likeable left-back wants to set the record straight on something else entirely. After appearing in an all-white suit in a series Instagram images last month alongside an unknown bride, many fans began to speculate that the Serbian-born Hungary international had used his summer vacation to tie the knot at the age of 22. All was not quite as it seemed, however. It was, in fact, the wedding of his eldest brother, Rade. “No [I never got married]! This is wrong,” Kerkez says. “Everyone gets this wrong! It was my oldest brother. In Serbia it is normal for the younger brothers to take the bride to the church. That’s what I did and now everyone thinks I got married. “I keep having to explain to a lot of people that I never got married. It was my oldest brother, not me. I was going around the club and people started to congratulate me. I’m like: ‘No, I’m not ready for this yet!’ It was not me, it was Rade. There are three of us – Rade is the oldest, I’m the youngest and Marko is the middle one." Kerkez’s strong bond with his two brothers and their parents, Sebastijan and Tijana, shines through during the conversation he has with a handful of publications, including the ECHO in downtown Chicago. “My family are very important," he says. "My brothers have their own lives now but my parents are with me and I am much happier they are with me. My mum, my dad, he is here to smack me sometimes on the top of the head to remind me. “Sometimes you play a few good games and you maybe start to get a bit carried away. But my dad is here to smack me, I come straight back down and I switch straight back on. They are very important." That undoubtedly helped during a troubled term last year that saw Arne Slot’s Reds surrender their status as champions in a meek fashion that ended with a limp fifth-placed finish in the Premier League and the sacking of the head coach. “Obviously [last season] was tough for everyone,” Kerkez says. “When you are here, you need to play to win things. We had tough moments. We had moments when we fought back and then we had tough moments again. It was a good experience. You can learn a lot, pick up a lot. It wasn’t good for our standards but we need to improve this year. “I was surprised [Slot was sacked]. I really didn’t know. I was back in Serbia, I was sleeping and my brother woke me up. He knocks on my door and it was a big surprise. “Nobody knew. I couldn’t believe it, I was like: ‘wow!’ I have been in touch with him since, we have exchanged a few messages. That’s it.” FOLLOW OUR LIVERPOOL FC FACEBOOK PAGE! All the latest news and analysis from Anfield on the Liverpool Echo's dedicated LFC Facebook page If the entire club are looking to move forward and forget about the problems experienced across 25/26, Kerkez is one of several who stands to benefit most from the appointment of Andoni Iraola. His performances under Iraola made him a £40m left-back barely 12 months ago, with his marauding, aggressive style earning him a place in the 2025 PFA Team of the Season, which was named in August of last year. And the defender is clearly delighted to be working once more with the coach who afforded him the freedom to become known as one of the most exciting attacking full-backs in England during their time together at Bournemouth. On Iraola’s appointment, Kerkez says: “I was delighted, honestly. I worked for him before and he helped me and improved me a lot in the two years that I spent with him. I was really happy, obviously for myself but also for the team. Everyone knows what type of football he plays so I think he is the perfect fit for us. “What makes him a special coach? The intensity. It’s the intensity. He’s not scared to play one-on-one all over the pitch, to press high and to be on the front foot always. “If you see footage of how we all are after training, all lying down, then you can see what he is preparing us for. You definitely needs legs and good condition for what he wants us to do, but we will be all right. “He’s very professional. He likes to talk sometimes but not a lot. I think maybe he doesn’t want to get too close to some players and wants to show that everyone is the same in the team, so he doesn’t want to get too close to anyone in particular. He keeps it professional, with a lot of hard work. “For example, when we play some games with three or four teams he calls it ‘consequences’ and the losing team and the team that finishes second has to run. How much you have to run depends on what he decides in that moment, but there is always running for the team that loses. He’s intense and he likes details. “You will have to run 16-16 (metres, from the edge of one penalty area to the other) or 16-halfway line in seven seconds, there and back. It’s all right. “He always told me that defending is really important, for him that is first of all, and because you are a full back you need to defend really hard. Everything you can do in front of you is like a bonus. So I was always focused first on defending and then running forward to help the wingers. “He showed me that when you do your job then you are free to do what you want, so I felt really free with him. We had a good team. It was obviously not me, we were playing really well as a team at that time. He lets you be more free to do your stuff. "The guys are doing good. The first couple of sessions, they were getting used to it but now they are getting better and better. I think the guys like how he works. I like it, they like it. I think it is going to suit the team perfectly." If Kerkez speaks about Iraola and his punishing methods with deep admiration, the same can be said of Andy Robertson, the Liverpool legend who left the club after nine decorated years at the end of his contract this summer. The 22-year-old always spoke about Robertson with reverence during their one campaign as colleagues and that hasn't changed now the Scotland skipper is a Tottenham Hotspur player. But can he now emulate his former team-mate at Anfield? "We all know what Andy did for the club, I'm not running away from that," Kerkez says. "I want to make my own way. I'm going to work hard. I know what it means to play for Liverpool. I showed it a bit last year and I am going to show it more this year. “Andy helped me a lot, really. I know, like I said many times, he's a legend. He did a lot of big things, won everything. He's someone I look up to. Obviously, I'm here. I want to make my own thing. "In terms of that, I want to push and always give 100%. It's not like I was held back or whatever because Andy was there. Like I said, he helped me a lot. But I just do my own thing. I always like to compete. It doesn't matter who it is. I'm going to push even more this year. “I didn't want to get a lot onto him [before he left]. He was a bit emotional as everything was coming to an end. I didn't want to get onto him too much. But like I said, throughout the year he helped me. We had a few conversations about the crosses and about how big lungs we need to have so we can run until tomorrow. "He played a lot of seasons, I should also have the same. We had conversations like that. Also, where to put the last ball, to focus, to put your head up and sometimes put better crosses in. We had conversations like that.” Kerkez speaks of a 'new generation' that is being shaped now, on the pitches of Chicago Fire's Endeavour Performance Centre during pre-season and while work is undoubtedly needed in the transfer market to allow Iraola the tools to turn things around on Merseyside, the former Cherries defender is relishing the opportunity to take on more seniority in a new-look Liverpool, under a head coach he knows better than anyone at Anfield. "Honestly, I don’t care about pressure," he says. "It’s a normal thing that comes with the job. You play good. You play bad. It’s process, it’s all about growing. "It’s like I say – if you play bad, in three days you have another game. Everyone is going to forget how you played three days ago. There is always a new game coming and then you have to do good stuff. That’s it. I don’t like that pressure stuff. “It could be similar but I don't like 'pressure' and that stuff. I grew up a bit different in Serbia. We grew up differently. It's just your job. Do your own damn job. "Obviously it's tougher, I saw when I arrived, when you lose games and it's not going your way. Obviously, it’s one of the biggest clubs in the world so you need to do well but that comes with the job that we do. Obviously it was an experience last season but we need to do a lot better this year. "The gaffer likes to play more with the full-backs down the line, underlapping, overlapping. It worked well for me at Bournemouth so I think it will also work well for me here. "Listen, to run this much, you have to be born with it a bit, to have legs. But obviously you need to work on conditioning, but I like to run a lot. It's why I stay after training. I will run from one penalty area to the other. There and back, rest, then there and back again. I've always been the kind of guy who has to move. That's why I can keep on running." To hear Liverpool's left-back tell it, Iraola's appointment could be the perfect marriage on Merseyside. As far as an actual wedding for Kerkez, though? Maybe not just yet.