I’ve said plenty of times in the last six months that Andrew Robertson deserved a chance at one of the Premier League’s top sides to show his true qualities.

Today Liverpool confirmed that they have managed to snap up the left-back in a £10m deal from Hull City. 

I’m delighted for the player, who has impressed me greatly in the last five seasons, but now is the time that he goes again and makes that big step up and proves he’s worthy of such a move.

In fairness to Andy, so far in his career, he’s faced various challenges and passed every test with flying colours.

He made the step up from Scotland’s bottom tier to the Scottish Premiership without any problems, he moved to the English Premier League without much fuss and he took to international football like a duck to water.

But ultimately this will be his toughest test to date. He has joined one of England’s and Europe’s biggest clubs in Liverpool.

The Reds finished in the Premier League’s top four last term and will hope to do so again this year. They will be looking to challenge for every trophy that they are competing in.

In the up and coming season they will also have to play midweek Champions League encounters and then concentrate again on the league campaign during the weekends. As we know that kind of schedule calls for mentally prepared footballers both fit in mind as well as body.

Robertson will be joining a side that will want to win every game. He’ll work under a boss who will want his players to perform at 100% week in and week out.

Playing left-back at Anfield under Klopp will mean that the Scottish international has to be disciplined. He will be expected to work extremely hard in defensive areas to win the ball back and then be seen as an attacking threat down the left channel when his side have the ball.

It’s an increasingly tough gig to do at an important club, that’s why we’ve seen ridiculous amounts of cash being spent on fullbacks this summer. They play an important part in balancing teams out.

The twenty-two year old will also have to contend with strong competition for a starting berth in Klopp’s first eleven. He has to do battle with Spanish £12m man Alberto Moreno and veteran James Milner.

Moreno isn’t the best defensively but can excite going forward and the Anfield side have already rejected a £11m bid from Napoli for the Spaniard this summer.

Milner was played out of position at left-back last term but did well in that unfamiliar role. He’s always dependable and it’s clear Klopp admires his work ethic and respects his willingness to do anything for the team.

In Robertson’s favour, he does seem the best overall left-back out of the three and will do both jobs well (defensively and attack). But he still needs to show that he can handle the rigours and pressures that come with playing for a big team. He does well in the tackle, has a good engine and can deliver a fantastic ball into the box.

Another plus point for Andrew is that even at twenty-two, he’s actually already a mature Premier League performer. He doesn’t get flustered easily and will work hard continuously for the team. These are traits his new gaffer likes, hence why he’s signed him.

Klopp said as much to his club’s own website:

“His attitude is outstanding – absolutely outstanding. His talent and skills – also very, very good.”

I really hope Andrew Robertson proves himself as a great full-back at Liverpool and can join the likes of Steve Nicol, Alan Hansen and Kenny Dalglish as great Scottish talents to grace Anfield. He seems to have the determination to give it a real go as he stated to the Liverpool FC website:

“I just want to prove to people that I can do it at this level, and hopefully I manage to do that this season and go on to do good things for this club.”

All he has to do is play consistently well and meet this challenge head on, like he’s done with every other challenge that he’s come across in his relatively short career thus far.

I’ll watch on eagerly!

Posted on July 21st, 2017 by scott
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