Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

News

HomeNewsEnglish Premier LeagueLiverpool

Xherdan Shaqiri has claimed he can see Liverpool defender’s quality in training

Dom Toner

Wed 24 March 2021 22:00, UK

Liverpool’s Xherdan Shaqiri has given a glowing verdict about the quality of club teammate Kostas Tsimikas.

29-year-old winger Shaqiri, who cost the Reds £13million in 2018 (), has spoken very highly about a rarely-seen defender on Merseyside.

Tsimikas, 24, has made just six first-team appearances during his debut season at Anfield.

He’s a left-back that was signed to be the understudy to Andy Robertson, but manager Jurgen Klopp has been reluctant to give him too many opportunities.

The ex-Olympiacos defender is someone with great pace and athleticism, but he still needs to improve the defensive side of his game.

Shaqiri says that Tsimikas impressed on the training pitch, and has predicted that the Liverpool fringe man’s work is going to pay off “soon”.

“Obviously he didn’t have a lot of games this season but we see his qualities every day in training and how hard he works every day in the gym, after training too. I think this is going to pay off soon,” .

“I hope he gets his rhythm as soon as possible and he can get some minutes because he’s a very good player and he can be much, much better if he can improve himself also. That’s why he came here.

“I’m looking forward that he’s going to be a very, very important player for the club.”

TBR’s View:

If Robertson is fit from now until the end of the season, it will be a surprise if he doesn’t start every Liverpool game.

He’s certainly one of the individuals that has started to look tired, and it’s no surprise when you consider how much energy he puts into every performance.

It’s hard to judge Tsimikas based off the very little Liverpool fans have seen of him, but it’s concerning that Klopp hasn’t looked to rotate more often in the full-back area, and that needs changing going into next year.