Milos Kerkez's unexpected early return to Liverpool a timely boost for Andoni Iraola
Fans and club managers alike spend the international break doing exactly the same thing; praying that all their players do not get injured away with their countries. Already during this elongated break, both Cody Gakpo and Alexander Isak have returned to Merseyside having picked up issues; the Dutchman's injury seems to be more serious than that of the Swedish centre-forward.
Well, with a week to go until Manchester City's eagerly-awaited Premier League visit to Anfield, one player Andoni Iraola does not have to sweat over is Miloš Kerkez. Hungary take on Ukraine at Štadión Antona Malatinského in Trnava on Monday, a match in which Dominik Szoboszlai will be donning the armband. However, his club team mate Kerkez will not be involved.
That is because, the 22 year old is suspended. During Friday night's 1-0 win over Georgia at the Puskás Aréna, the left-back was booked, his second yellow card of this UEFA Nations League campaign, previously cautioned by Jarred Gillett when Ukraine visited Budapest a week earlier.
This costly card came after Kerkez had actually scored the night's only goal, heading home his first for Hungary. Now though, his sequence of 11 successive competitive international starts will come to an end, which is certainly a blow for Marco Rossi's team.
In light of this, it was reported on Sunday that, rather than traveling to Slovakia with the rest of the squad, Kerkez has headed back to Liverpool, two days earlier than anticipated. This will be good news for Iraola, who will not have a lot of time to prepare for Sunday's huge clash with Manchester City, who have certainly been in the news haven't they?
16 members of Iraola's squad have been in senior international action during this break, leaving him with a very truncated squad with which to work back at AXA Training Centre.
Looking at left-back specifically, Kerkez has not been consistent enough so far this season to ensure he is the undisputed first-choice. His usual deputy Kostas Tsimikas has also been busy during this window, completing 90 minutes in all three of Greece's matches to date. Baring any issues, he'll maintain that record when Germany visit Thessaloniki on Sunday night.
These minutes, having not played a lot for the Reds, could help Tsimikas' candidacy to be Iraola's first-choice. Nevertheless, with Liverpool playing nine times in 25 days between 11 October and 8 November, he's going to need both, so having them back safe and sound will be a relief.
