Liverpool journalist Theo Squires has provided a positive slant on the latest injury news for the Reds ahead of the new Premier League season.
The key incident from the club’s recent friendly against Athletic Bilbao was the unfortunate injury to left-back Andy Robertson.
Robertson played in every league game last season, so his absence (long or short) will likely be felt in the Liverpool backline.
However, speaking on the Blood Red: Liverpool FC YouTube channel, Squires explained that the club may already have an ideal backup ready to go.
Squires said: “I’m not saying fear the worst, but you’d imagine he’s not going to be fit for Norwich. There’s not going to be that miraculous overnight recovery.
“But the positive, on the other side of that, is Kostas Tsimikas has had a really good pre-season. We didn’t really see enough of him last year, because Klopp couldn’t rotate the defence that were left, so Robertson had to start every game.
“At least he [Tsimikas] would get his opportunity. [Let’s] see what he can do against Osasuna, if he can keep up this pre-season form, and then hopefully start the season well and kickstart his Liverpool career. If it’s a worst-case scenario, he could have a good few weeks in the starting XI, here.”
TIF Thoughts on Kostas Tsimikas and Liverpool…
The current state of Robertson’s injury is unknown, with Jurgen Klopp saying: “We obviously don’t know at the moment how serious [Robertson’s injury] is. It was pretty painful and that’s why Andy went off. The pain settled already, but we cannot say anything further without further assessment tomorrow. He has to get a scan and then we will know more.”
Tsimikas was signed from Olympiacos back in 2020, but has struggled to make the biggest impact in Liverpool so far – making just two league appearances last season.
At 25 years of age, the defender has nine international caps to his name, making his debut with Greece back in 2018. His last appearance came in a 2-1 win over Norway last June (as per Transfermarkt).
If he does get a few games to prove himself now, Tsimikas could go on to be a more relied-upon option in Klopp’s squad throughout the campaign. However, he will have to really impress the German if he wants to replace Andy Robertson in the long term based on how much the Scot was evidently trusted last year.