‘He’s struggling’ – Paul Scholes voices concerns over Liverpool summer signing

Paul Scholes says Milos Kerkez appears to be ‘struggling’ since joining Liverpool and ‘something is not right’ in Arne Slot’s star-studded squad this season.

Slot became only the seventh manager in history to win the Premier League title in their first year at the helm, with Liverpool finishing ten points better off than second-placed Arsenal last term.

And the Merseyside giants picked up where they left with an encouraging start to the new campaign, in which they won seven matches on the spin in all competitions.

But Liverpool are now riding a four-match losing streak in the Premier League, a drastic slump in form which has seen the reigning champions plummet to seventh in the table.

It comes after Liverpool spent a total of £446million on new recruits across a record-breaking summer transfer window, with Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong, Geovanni Leoni, Hugo Ekitike and Kerkez all arriving through the doors at Anfield.

There is an argument that Ekitike is the only signing to live up to expectations thus far, though, with the Frenchman having racked up six goals and one assist in his opening 13 appearances for the club.

The Reds will be desperate to return to winning ways in their Carabao Cup fourth-round tie with Crystal Palace on Wednesday night. It’s a quick turnaround for Slot’s men, who play host to Aston Villa in the league just three days later.

‘There’s something not right there [at Liverpool],’ legendary ex-Manchester United and England midfielder Scholes said on The Good, The Bad & The Football.

‘When you’ve got a good team, you try and strengthen it. When you win a league, you try and bring in players. For some reason, it’s just not happening.

‘I think the goalkeeper is a big miss. We’ve seen how important ‘keepers are becoming, definitely, and Alisson’s a big miss.

‘I’m not saying this ‘keeper [Giorgi Mamardashvili] is playing badly, but it seems like every shot is going in. It’s not a good trait.’

Leaders Arsenal boast far and away the best defensive record this season having conceded on just three occasions in the Premier League.

Liverpool, by comparison, have managed to ship a total of 14 goals in their opening nine matches – the joint-highest tally in the top of the table.

According to Scholes, it is almost as if Slot’s defenders have lost the desireand ‘determination’ to prevent the opposition from scoring based on their recent performances.

‘He [Kerkez] has struggled and I think both centre-backs [Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk] have,’ the 11-time Premier League winner added.

‘I thought Konate was brilliant against Manchester United and then on Saturday night [against Brentford], when he’s running back against that lad [Kevin Schade], I was thinking, ‘He’ll catch him him, he’ll get him!” and he almost gave up.

‘It’s like they’ve almost lost the determination to stop goals going in.

‘I think they will always score goals with the quality they’ve got and, look, it’s still early in the season.

‘But losing four league games already, teams don’t really do that and win the league anymore. You’re talking two or three games.’

Mikel Arteta could hardly have imagined a more perfect weekend for his Arsenal side, with Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea all losing to perceived lesser opposition.

But the Gunners are still yet to produce the sort of display to fully convince Scholes that the Premier League title is theirs to lose this season.

‘At this point of every season, you’ve probably seen a performance where you think, “They’re going to win the league”, and I still don’t think I’ve seen that from Arsenal or anybody yet,’ Scholes explained.

‘I think the closest Arsenal probably got to it was the Newcastle game away from home. I thought they were really good there.

‘It’s not that I’m not impressed by it. Defensively, you have to be impressed by it.

‘But I still don’t they it’s quite clicking going forward.’

Scholes’ long-time Manchester United team-mate, Gary Neville, voiced similar concerns about Liverpool’s £40m addition, Kerkez, as he dissected the club’s dramatic 3-2 defeat to Brentford.

The former England defender believes Slot has little choice but to take the young left-back out of the firing line for Liverpool’s next clash with Aston Villa.

‘The virus is catching. It’s not just going now into the left-back,’ Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast.

‘The left-back is becoming a worry. He [Kerkez] scored last night but watching him, he has to be taken out I think.

‘I’m worried about the right-back. [Jeremie] Frimpong isn’t a right-back. 

‘Conor Bradley has been given his head and I’m supportive of that because I think there’s a lot of talent there, but it’s difficult when your team are conceding goals and the pressure is on.’

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