Liverpool defender Kostas Tsimikas is proving that it’s never smart to judge a foreign import on his first season in English football.
The Anfield outfit spent £11 million on signing the left-back from Olympiacos during the summer transfer window in 2020.
However, it was a rotten first season at Liverpool for the Greece international who managed only five minutes of Premier League football during the 2020-21 campaign.
This time around, however, Tsimikas is looking a million times better in a Reds shirt.
The 25-year-old has started seven Premier League outings this season and has even benched Andy Robertson on a number of occasions, in a few different competitions.
Those were only brief periods out of the starting lineup for the Scotland international, but Tsimikas has revealed to Liverpool’s official website that he’s motivated by the challenge of ultimately playing ahead of the former Hull City player.
He said: “For me, I have to challenge Robbo and to try to catch the best gives me an extra boost to be the best. The most important thing is to work hard if you want to achieve your goals.”
Ambitious
Well, you can’t fault Tsimikas’s ambition.
Robertson, who cost Liverpool a bargain £8 million, is easily one of Europe’s best left-backs and the fact that Tsimikas is hoping to bench him only underlines his hunger.
However, it’s such a tall order.
Robertson is still only 27 and coming into the prime of his football career, illustrating that he hasn’t even peaked yet and if manager Jurgen Klopp drops him for an extended period of time, Tsimikas will need to play out of his skin.
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