Latest news with #Serbia-born
The Irish Sun
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Liverpool star Milos Kerkez is ‘tough' animal lover with carnivore rottweiler and guard dog named after the underworld
MILOS KERKEZ is raising his pet Rottweiler Maximus on a diet of raw meat. Nobody at 3 Milos Kerkez has a pet rottweiler he has raised on a diet of raw meat 3 The new Liverpool left-back is read to unleash his own bark on the Premier League Credit: Getty Left-back He freely admits: 'I was a little bit tough growing up.' Kerkez, who is heading to Anfield from The games were with his older brothers Rade and Marko, the latter is also a left-back and plays for Greek side Aris Thessaloniki. READ MORE IN FOOTBALL Milos revealed: 'They were tough on me. They would tackle me, I would fall, my skin would cut and bleed but they were good times and I realised: 'I like to do this!'' When news broke this week that the 21- year-old's move from the Cherries was going through, his sibling Marko, 24, posted a picture of a little boy facing an image of Anfield wearing a red shirt with 'Kerkez' and the No 3 on his back. He accompanied the picture with the words: 'Dreams come true when you believe more in your vision than in your fears.' Not that the Serbia-born full-back ever seems to have been that fearful of anyone or anything. Most read in Football BEST FREE BETS AND BETTING SIGN UP OFFERS Kerkez is already playing in the sixth country of his career but there is nothing he likes better than to head into the Serbian wilderness on his own to live in a wooden cabin, catching fish then cooking them on a fire. His ambition is to build a bigger farm for his father, saying: 'He loves to spend his whole day on the farm, with the dogs, ducks, fishes . . . in the wild. Milos Kerkez talks about his football career journey to join Bournemouth 3 'I'm going to build him a new one, hopefully soon, with more animals. I want horses, cows, dogs, everything. 'I want to have a big space, so when I go there, I can just disconnect from football. 'I want to build a lake, fill it up with fish so then I can fish all day. It's an idea from my dad but we have to make a plan now.' He was just 11 when he left his parents and youth team OFK Vrbas to head to Austria for Rapid Vienna in 2014. In 2019 he joined Hungarian division two side Gyor, where he decided he would play for that country despite being born in Serbia, a decision backed by his dad and grandmother who was a Magyar. In February 2021 the great Paolo Maldini, AC Milan's sporting director, recognised Kerkez had an animal-like passion to devour yards down the left flank and crash into tackles and invited him to join the Italian super club. Kerkez said: 'You know, when Maldini calls, you don't think too much.' Maldini flew to Hungary in a private plane to take Kerkez to Italy where he would become a team-mate of Swedish legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Yet he never played a minute for Milan and, after a short spell at Dutch side AZ, found himself at Bournemouth. After his international debut in a 1-0 win over a Germany side containing striker Thomas Muller, he said: 'I didn't care that I was up against Muller. 'I never cared who the opponent was. Zlatan could have come. I wouldn't have been scared either.' Kerkez also owns an Italian mastiff in Serbia and is called Had. He explained: 'The name is after Hades, the God of the underworld.' Kop boss Arne Slot will fancy him to wreak hell on opponents over the coming years.
The 42
5 days ago
- Sport
- The 42
Liverpool agree €47m deal for Bournemouth's Kerkez: reports
LIVERPOOL HAVE AGREED to sign Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez in a deal worth a reported €47 million (£40m), according to reports on Friday. Kerkez is due to travel to Merseyside for a medical before completing his move to the Premier League champions. The 21-year-old caught Liverpool's eye last season with his fine form for Bournemouth, including two goals and five assists in 38 Premier League appearances. Advertisement Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes brought Kerkez to Bournemouth from AZ Alkmaar during his time at the Vitality Stadium. Serbia-born Kerkez began his career at Hungarian outfit Gyor before moving to AC Milan, where he failed to make an appearance for the Serie A club. He joined Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in 2022, arriving in the Premier League with Bournemouth a year later. Kerkez's impending arrival at Anfield raises questions about the future of Liverpool left-back Andrew Robertson, who has been linked with Atletico Madrid. Kerkez will become Liverpool's latest signing in a busy summer transfer window for boss Arne Slot. The Reds have already secured the signature of Netherlands right-back Jeremie Frimpong from Bayer Leverkusen to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold, who has joined Real Madrid. Liverpool are also on the verge of signing Leverkusen's Germany playmaker Florian Wirtz after reportedly agreeing a fee that could rise to a British record €136 million (£116m). Wirtz is believed to have undergone a medical with Liverpool on Friday ahead of the official confirmation of his transfer. – © AFP 2025
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Liverpool agree deal for Bournemouth's Kerkez: reports
Liverpool have agreed to sign Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez in a deal worth a reported £40 million ($54 million), according to reports on Friday. Kerkez is due to travel to Merseyside for a medical before completing his move to the Premier League champions. Advertisement The 21-year-old caught Liverpool's eye last season with his fine form for Bournemouth, including two goals and five assists in 38 Premier League appearances. Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes brought Kerkez to Bournemouth from AZ Alkmaar during his time at the Vitality Stadium. Serbia-born Kerkez began his career at Hungarian outfit Gyor before moving to AC Milan, where he failed to make an appearance for the Serie A club. He joined Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in 2022, arriving in the Premier League with Bournemouth a year later. Kerkez's impending arrival at Anfield raises questions about the future of Liverpool left-back Andrew Robertson, who has been linked with Atletico Madrid. Advertisement Kerkez will become Liverpool's latest signing in a busy summer transfer window for boss Arne Slot. The Reds have already secured the signature of Netherlands right-back Jeremie Frimpong from Bayer Leverkusen to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold, who has joined Real Madrid. Liverpool are also on the verge of signing Leverkusen's Germany playmaker Florian Wirtz after reportedly agreeing a fee that could rise to a British record £116 million. Wirtz is believed to have undergone a medical with Liverpool on Friday ahead of the official confirmation of his transfer. smg/nr
New York Times
28-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Milos Kerkez interview: Intense Iraola, Liverpool links – powered by his mum's cooking
Milos Kerkez has one face, which is partly hidden inside a Nike hoodie right now. Bournemouth's 21-year-old rising-star left-back is walking along the south stand of their Vitality Stadium home. A couple of minutes earlier, Tiago Pinto, the club's director of football operations, passed the same way. Advertisement It is Pinto, along with Simon Francis, Bournemouth's first-team technical director, who will more than likely be tasked with negotiating the best possible transfer fee for the Serbia-born Hungary international this summer. Bournemouth signed Kerkez from Dutch side AZ for around £15.5million ($20m at the current exchange rate) in July 2023. Now, after what's so far been a stellar second season in English football, he is one of Europe's most sought-after left-backs, with clubs such as Premier League champions-elect Liverpool among his keen admirers. 'No two faces,' Kerkez tells The Athletic from an office inside the 11,307-capacity stadium. 'How I am on the pitch is how I am outside of it. Everywhere I am the same. I am not pretending to be something. You always remember where you've been, where you are now and you don't change, you just go with it and stay humble. That is what my dad (Sebastijan) says.' Last season, Kerkez, a fast and feisty full-back, made a name for himself in a Bournemouth team that achieved the club's best top-flight points tally (48) during Andoni Iraola's first season as their head coach. Their 2024-25 has been even more impressive under the Spaniard, who, like Kerkez, is attracting plenty of interest from elsewhere. With nine league games to go, Bournemouth are five points away from beating that record points haul from a year ago and, in doing so, are dreaming of their first foray into European football, sitting just three points behind fifth-placed Manchester City. A season in which he's scored twice and assisted five times in 32 appearances has seen Kerkez find another level. During 2023-24, he was adjusting to the league, but now the league is adjusting to him. 'Last season helped me to experience the league and how it is, the speed and physicality of it,' says Kerkez, who was born in November 2003, when Bournemouth were playing the likes of Tranmere Rovers and Colchester United in English football's third tier. 'The manager has trust in you and gives you time to adapt because he knows you have the quality and he knows it is just a matter of time until you pop out and start to do your stuff more.' Advertisement Kerkez has started every one of Bournemouth's 29 league games this season, which have included wins against City (who they will face again at home in an FA Cup quarter-final on Sunday), Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United. But he will miss City's visit, where a semi-final at Wembley next month will be at stake, after he was shown a yellow card during the win against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the previous round. He was booked, unfairly according to Iraola, after Wolves forward Matheus Cunha hit out at and headbutted him in extra time and was himself sent off. 'I like to be aggressive but in a sporting way — in a football way, I like to compete a lot,' Kerkez says. 'As a full-back, you have to do both (defend and attack), but first of all is your defensive game. If you're not a good defender, you're not going to play or compete for trophies. 'Last season I had to work on my defensive awareness, to not switch off. I now stay focused for the whole game and I believe I'm doing both pretty well this season. If you want to be a full-back with Andoni Iraola, you have to be like this.' When The Athletic sat down with Kerkez, it was two days after his lung-busting performance in the 2-2 away draw against Spurs on March 9. Kerkez said he was still feeling the effects of his exertions, which included a breathtaking 43.6 metre (47.6 yard) sprint from his own half to assist Marcus Tavernier for the game's opening goal. By midweek, he said, he'd be recharged fully to the levels which, during childhood, meant he hardly sat still. He would scale tall trees and, as a fan of parkour, enjoyed daring climbs along rooftops in his hometown of Vrbas, Serbia. In that Tottenham match, Kerkez looked like an NFL cornerback as he tracked the run of 'wide receiver' Brennan Johnson and perfectly timed his interception of 'quarterback' Pedro Porro's pass before making the lightning-quick bolt forward, then slowing, looking up and crossing to find Tavernier at the back post. A post shared by AFC Bournemouth (@afcb) 'That is what wingers struggle with,' Kerkez says. 'I don't leave them space to control the ball outside of me. I stay close to them and at the same time I can follow their run. If they want to run in front of me (they can) because I know I have the speed. 'I just waited for that and I can turn quick, that's my strong power — being explosive and defending. After that, it was just about staying calm for the first few metres and then I looked for Tav. I saw he was going to make the run, so I put it there and it went perfectly. Advertisement 'I look for the player (rather than a zone) because in my head I know exactly where the goalkeeper will be. You can see (on that goal) I just looked up at the player, I didn't look at the box or the goalkeeper.' Instead of running towards Tavernier to celebrate, Kerkez turned and ran into the arms of Iraola, whose pre-match planning centred on ways to expose Tottenham's high defensive line. 'He helped me before the game to analyse this to get the assist,' Kerkez says. 'He is helping everyone to improve as a player and as a person. I'm really thankful he has trusted me.' It was one of two viral moments involving Kerkez from that game, along with a perfectly timed slide challenge on Johnson inside the Bournemouth box. 'People think I am going to give a penalty but I know when I can make a tackle and take the ball away clearly. I really enjoyed that tackle,' he smirks. Naturally, all this directed a lot of traffic to Kerkez's social media accounts. His Instagram, in particular, was filled with messages from hundreds of Liverpool fans asking him to join the club as they look for 31-year-old Andy Robertson's long-term successor. A post shared by @miloskerkezofficial 'It's not like I don't see it (the comments),' he says. 'When people say they don't see stuff if someone says something about you, I think it's a lie. It's only if it hits you or not. If someone says something bad, I do my job, and if someone says something good, I just do my job. That's it.' Kerkez's youth career took him from Serbia to Austria's Rapid Vienna and Hungarian clubs Hodmezovasarhelyi and Gyor, before a video call with a legendary left-back led to a move to Italian giants Milan in February 2021. Paolo Maldini, who won five European Cup/Champions League finals and seven Serie A titles as a Milan player, as well as playing 126 times for Italy, was their technical director at the time and signed Kerkez. Despite training with the first team, Kerkez never made a senior appearance for the San Siro club and, after being confined to youth football, he left for AZ just 12 months after joining. Milos Kerkez: « Maldini est le meilleur défenseur central de tous les temps, Theo Hernandez est lui excellent à son poste. » — AC Milan – FR (@AC_MilanFR) February 2, 2021 Does he see his next step as being a return to one of Europe's elite clubs? 'Yeah,' Kerkez says. 'As a kid, you dream to play at the highest level, win the trophies, be on the best teams. 'These are the things that my agent is on. My dad is on. It is not something that they occupy me with because the season is still going, so there's no point to talk about anything. There's games left, the FA Cup is important for us — these are big things. And then, like I say, when someone comes (in for you) you never know what's going to happen or where you're going to end up. In the summer, we will see what happens.' Advertisement The opinions of parents Sebastijan and Tiijana, who live with him in nearby Poole, and his brothers Rade and Marko — the latter also plays top-level football as a left-back, for Greek side Aris Thessaloniki on loan from Partizan Belgrade — are what matters most to him. 'I play for them. I just want to have made them proud,' Kerkez says. 'All the other noise is not important for me, if it's good or bad. My family is why I'm here today and why I continue to grow.' He means that literally. 'My mum cooks the best food for me, it is what keeps me healthy to play. She makes all sorts of juices, I have a lot of them in the fridge and I don't even know what they are,' he laughs. His health and fitness regime seems to be working out well for Kerkez, whose time away from football is spent mostly with his family and friends in Poole or back in Vrbas. His lifestyle centres on being outdoors as much as possible. He has fished since the age of eight, which is around the same time he switched his focus from swimming to football. Does something about the water bring him inner peace? 'I'm not even calm when I fish,' he laughs again. 'But I like to be there the whole day and just fish.' Kerkez has had a home built for him in Serbia and the finishing touches will include a padel court so he can compete with his brothers and friends. 'I live simply,' says a player who finished 14th in the voting for the 2023 Golden Boy award, recognising the best young footballer in Europe over the previous year, a place behind Liverpool midfielder Harvey Elliott and one ahead of now Manchester United striker Rasmus Hojlund. 'I would rather go home for my vacation and be with family or friends in my hometown than travel to Ibiza, for example. 'I can do everything at home in Serbia, I don't need to go anywhere else. I built my home there. I am going to have all the fun I need in my hometown, so I don't need to go anywhere else.' Advertisement Kerkez's love for Serbia is clear, which may confuse some as he represents Hungary, who he qualifies to play for through his paternal grandmother. Staying loyal paid off for both parties when Kerkez made history by becoming the youngest player (20 years and 221 days) to represent Hungary at the European Championship in 60 years when they faced Switzerland in the group stage of last summer's tournament in Germany. 'They gave me a chance, and I thought if I get called up then I will play for them,' says Kerkez, who was playing his club football with Gyor in Hungary at the time of his first under-17s call-up and has since won 23 senior caps. His loyalty, with those nine league games and two potential trips to Wembley in the FA Cup this season remaining, is with Bournemouth for now — but that will be tested this summer.
Telegraph
04-03-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Arne Slot targets £40m Milos Kerkez for next stage of Anfield revolution
Liverpool are expected to be in the running for Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez when the Hungary international goes on the market in the summer. Kerkez, 21, will command a fee upward of £40 million at the end of the campaign after seeing his value increase in the last two seasons following his move from AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands, in a deal worth £15.5 million. He was signed at the Vitality Stadium by Richard Hughes, Bournemouth's technical director at the time who has since moved to Anfield as sporting director where he has a key role in transfers and planning future deals for Liverpool head coach Arne Slot. Kerkez is thought to be on Liverpool's radar for when they look at bolstering their options at left-back, should they add competition to Andy Robertson and Konstantinos Tsimikas in that position. Other clubs in Europe are set to be part of the race for Kerkez. Milos Kerkez's tank was empty, and then he did this… 😱 — Premier League (@premierleague) January 22, 2025 Liverpool, the champions-elect, have been reliant on Robertson, who turns 31 this month, since his arrival from Hull City in 2017, while Tsimikas has been back-up for the past five seasons since joining from Olympiacos. Much of the focus this season has been on whether Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold will agree new deals, but, regardless of their future, Liverpool are expected to add to Slot's squad this summer after an excellent first season in charge/ Kerkez has established himself as one of the biggest left-back prospects in Europe over the past two seasons, with Bournemouth beating competition from Lazio to land him from AZ and giving him a platform to showcase his talent. The Serbia-born defender was at AC Milan as a youngster, but earned his breakthrough in senior football at AZ, where he was a regular in the Eredivisie before Bournemouth made their move.
