Liverpool Aim to ‘Accelerate’ Exit of Fringe Defender

With less than two weeks to go in the summer transfer window, Liverpool are still working on the departure of Kostas Tsimikas.

The arrival of Milos Kerkez plus the solid presence of long-time starting left back Andrew Robertson has Arne Slot well covered at the position, making Tsimikas expendable. Now, Fabrizio Romano reports that Liverpool are aiming to accelerate the exit of the Greek defender, being even open to letting him go on loan.

Tsimikas has been left out of Liverpool’s squad in the Community Shield against Crystal Palace, and the Reds 2025–26 Premier League opener against Bournemouth. It‘s abundantly clear that he’ll have to go elsewhere in order to have anything close to consistent playing time.

The writing’s been on the wall regarding a possible Tsimikas departure since the end of 2024–25. During Slot’s first season in charge, the 29-year-old left back started just 18 games across all competitions and played 833 minutes of Premier League football. With Kerkez now also ahead of him on the depth chart, his situation at the club seems even more dire.

Liverpool’s main hope is to offload Tsimikas on a permanent move, but with transfer deadline day rapidly approaching, the club could be willing to soften their stance and accept a loan deal, with his current contract due to expire until 2027.

Tsimikas has been a serviceable backup to Robertson since he joined Liverpool in the summer of 2020. Since arriving from Olympiacos, he’s tallied 115 appearances for the Reds.

Offloading Tsimikas could very well give Liverpool a boost in their attempts to secure a final reinforcement for the 2025–26 season. The club has already had a busy summer with both incoming and outgoing transfers, but there’s still talk regarding a possible move for centre back Marc Guehi and centre forward Alexander Isak.

Despite their Premier League title-defence having already started, Liverpool could still be one of the big protagonists of what remains of the summer transfer window.