Wayne Rooney warns Liverpool summer signing his place is under serious threat | Football

Wayne Rooney says Andy Robertson should be ‘knocking on Arne Slot’s door’ and demanding more playing time given Milos Kerkez’s ‘struggles’ at Liverpool this season.

Liverpool splashed out in the region of £40million to sign Kerkez, 22, last summer having been alerted to the left-back’s undoubted potential after two eye-catching seasons with Bournemouth.

The likes of Real Madrid and Manchester City had also been credited with an interest before the Premier League champions honed in on a deal for the Hungary international.

But for much of this season, Kerkez has been a shadow of the player that was named in the PFA Team of the Year on the back of an exceptional campaign last term.

While serious questions have been asked of Kerkez’s defensive capabilities, Slot has repeatedly thrown his support behind his high-profile summer signing, who has started all but four of the Reds’ top-flight games.

In recent matches, Kerkez has shown glimpses of the kind of form he showed at Bournemouth – and the youngster was deservedly voted man of the match after Liverpool’s recent stalemate with Arsenal.

However, Kerkez was hauled off at half-time for Robertson as the Reds slumped to a 3-2 defeat at the Vitality Stadium at the weekend, a decision Slot later confirmed was not injury-related.

Just 24 hours later, it was widely reported that Liverpool had shut the door on Robertson’s proposed transfer move to Tottenham.

‘If it would have happened in the summer, I think you’d have said, “Yeah, that’s a good move for Robertson, good move for Liverpool“, obviously with them bringing Kerkez in,’ Rooney said on The Wayne Rooney Show of Spurs’ failed bid for Robertson.

‘But I think with the way Kerkez has been this season, I don’t think, if I was Liverpool manager or part of the board, that I’d be letting Andy Robertson go right now because they’re fighting to get into the Champions League.

‘Andy Robertson would probably have a case that he should be starting for Liverpool still, purely because Kerkez has come in and he has struggled a little bit.

‘He’s been better of late but seeing the Bournemouth game, I think he struggled again.

‘So if I was at Liverpool, I certainly wouldn’t want him to leave just yet.’

According to Rooney, Robertson should be demanding answers from Slot, especially if Kerkez’s up-and-down form continues into the back-end of the campaign.

Asked if he understood why Robertson may want to leave, Rooney replied: ‘Yeah, 100 per cent.

‘But I think if you’re Andy Robertson then you’d be knocking on Arne Slot’s door and saying, “I should still be starting”, because, as I said, he’s still young enough and his legs haven’t gone.

‘He’s probably not as quick as he once was but his legs haven’t gone.

‘I’d certainly be asking the question, purely because of Kerkez’s form.’

Robertson – a two-time Premier League winner with Liverpool – has been handed a total of just four starts in the English top flight following Kerkez’s arrival.

Though Rooney strongly believes Robertson should stay, he also understands why the Scotland international would want a fresh challenge elsewhere if he is only offered a ‘bit-part’ role.

‘It’s football, it happens,’ the ex-Manchester United and England forward added.

‘You get a bit older and you’re maybe not the player you once were, but you still feel you can contribute.

‘So you have a decision to make: do you stay at the club and be a bit-part player or do you try and move to another club where you feel you’re going to start and play every week.

‘You have to make a decision, you have to be focussed and clear and the quicker you can accept it yourself, “OK, we’ve got a younger player coming in who is a bit fresher and has his career ahead of him”, maybe it’s the right time for you to move on.

‘The quicker you can accept it then the easier it is for you to make that decision.’

On coming to terms with his own position in the latter years of his playing career, Rooney added: ‘I didn’t think it was that hard, I always feel you have to be honest with yourself.

‘If you’re hanging on, thinking you can be better and you’re not then you can potentially affect your team and your team winning trophies as well.

‘I think you’ve got to be realistic and honest with yourself and if you can you see it, then you can understand why others can.’

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