With Milos Kerkez now in the Premier League's top three defenders for assists this season, Matt Furniss of Opta Analyst looks at how much the Hungarian has impressed under Andoni Iraola.
Milos Kerkez is one of the hottest properties in Europe right now.
Still only 21 years old, the left-back is only in his third season of top-flight football after joining AFC Bournemouth from Eredivisie side AZ Alkmaar in the summer of 2023. But despite his young age and relative inexperience, some of Europe’s biggest clubs have reportedly already seen enough to put Kerkez on their radar.
Although Kerkez is still in his formative years, Andoni Iraola has put his faith in the Hungarian, making him one of the cornerstones of his impressive Bournemouth side.
Since the start of last season, only three players have played more minutes of league action while aged under 22 years old across the top five European leagues than Kerkez (4,426), with none of the trio above him getting more time on the pitch exclusively in the Premier League.
Kerkez is the only player to have appeared in all 28 of Bournemouth’s Premier League matches in what has been a season made more complicated for the Cherries by numerous injury lay-offs. That’s just as well, considering the impact that he’s had in a season that’s seen them perform better than ever before in the top flight.
Bournemouth’s tally of 44 points is nine more than they’ve ever collected after 28 games of a top-flight campaign, beating last season’s previous high of 35. They are now only four points off equalling their season-best total of 48 – also set last season – with 10 matches remaining.
Much of their success has come from Iraola’s philosophy of high-intensity pressing and hard work off the ball. Kerkez plays a vital role in this from the left side of defence.
The young full-back features in the top 10 Premier League players this season for both total distance covered (278.5 km – 10th) and total sprints (616 – 5th), while only five players have covered more distance while sprinting than he has (11.0 km).
His energy levels have seen him make more overlapping runs than any other player in the Premier League this season (237), with Fulham’s Antonee Robinson (223) the only other player to record more than 175 in the competition across 2024/25 after 28 matchdays.
It’s Robinson who leads the Premier League ranking for open-play crosses this season (135), but Kerkez isn’t far behind, ranking fifth (83). The pick of those came in Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Tottenham Hotspur, where he intercepted Pedro Porro’s pass inside his own half and carried the ball 43.6 metres before curling a wicked cross to the back post, bypassing four opponents, for Marcus Tavernier to open the scoring.
Watch Kerkez's assist v Spurs
No team have scored more goals from open-play crosses than Bournemouth (eight) in the Premier League this season, and Kerkez has assisted three of those. Those numbers are no fluke, either. Only Fulham (8.7) have a higher xG assisted total from open-play crosses this season than the Cherries (8.0), while Kerkez (1.53) leads his club’s ranking.
These numbers don’t even include the Hungarian's fantastic assist against reigning champions Manchester City in November – which was a cutback, rather than a cross – where Kerkez beat Phil Foden for pace before getting to the byline and squaring for Antoine Semenyo’s ninth-minute opener in the 2-1 win.
Kerkez’s improved chance-creation numbers this season have come about thanks to Iraola encouraging him to play higher up the pitch.
Overall, Kerkez has averaged 6.1 touches per match more in the left third of the attacking half this season than last, with the majority of those in the zones closest to the touchline.
This has seen Bournemouth’s left-back average a higher touch position (57.8 metres from his own goalline) than those at every club with the exception of Man City (58.6 metres).
Interestingly, this attacking freedom isn’t afforded to Bournemouth’s right-sided defenders this season, with those players touching the ball on average 52.9 metres from their own goalline – 4.9 metres deeper than Kerkez.
Only Ipswich Town (5.5 metres more on the left than right) have a more ‘lopsided’ balance from their full-backs in the Premier League across 2024/25.
In an interview with former Bournemouth left-back Charlie Daniels last month, Kerkez revealed that this wasn’t a specific tactic of Iraola’s, but one that has been born out of his natural athleticism compared to their right-sided options, giving him freedom to get forward when and where possible.
Looking at all Premier League defenders, only four to have played at least 1,000 minutes in 2024/25 – Rico Lewis, Josko Gvardiol, Jurrien Timber and Trent Alexander-Arnold – have averaged a higher proportion of their successful passes in the opposition half than Kerkez (58.8 per cent).
He is integral in Bournemouth’s build-up play, too. Of players who have played at least 500 minutes in the league for the club this season, only Dean Huijsen (41.6) has averaged more unique open-play sequence involvements per 90 minutes this season than Kerkez (39.9).
Against Spurs at the weekend, it was only Huijsen (67) who had more touches of the ball for Iraola’s team than Kerkez (55), with the left-back heavily involved in possession sequences once again.
Despite being so advanced positionally for Bournemouth, Kerkez isn’t pushed high up the pitch to cover for any defensive inadequacies. That’s often a criticism levelled at some of the Premier League’s best full-backs, none more so than Liverpool’s Alexander-Arnold.
While not a prolific tackler – he averages just 1.4 per 90 minutes, half the rate of Alexander-Arnold (2.8) and less than half the average of other highly-rated full-backs like Daniel Munoz (3.6) and Destiny Udogie (3.4) – Kerkez’s positional sense is often enough to dispossess the opponent.
Looking at "true tackles" – made up of tackles, challenges lost and fouls when attempting a tackle – Kerkez has a 61.3 per cent success rate (38/62), losing only 13 challenges and committing just 11 fouls from them.
Despite playing nearly 300 minutes more than Alexander-Arnold this season, opponents seemingly know that Kerkez isn’t an easy defender to beat, instead finding other routes to progress the ball up-field.
However fantastic Alexander-Arnold is going forward, there have always been question marks about his defensive ability. He has attempted 122 true tackles in the Premier League this season, winning 54.9 per cent of them, losing a league-high 53 challenges and being dribbled-past 43.4 per cent of the time, also a league-high.
Fulham’s excellent left-back Robinson has also lost more one-vs-one take-ons than he’s won (35 won, 36 lost) in the Premier League this season.
Playing such a key role in Bournemouth’s successful season, there’s no surprise that Kerkez has been identified by many as a player who could go on to be one of the best full-backs in Europe in years to come.
With 10 matches left to play in the Premier League this season, Iraola’s side have a great chance of qualifying for European competition for the first time in their history. It remains to be seen if Kerkez will be joining them on that journey, however.
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