One Liverpool player has admitted that he found the 2025/26 season ‘very tough and strange’ and is now firmly focused on putting it behind him.
The most recent campaign is one that Reds fans would rather forget, with their team slumping to a fifth-place finish in the Premier League, a sharp decline from the then-champions which ultimately cost Arne Slot his job.
It was also a challenging season on a personal level for Kostas Tsimikas, who was on loan at Roma but played little more than 1,000 minutes (making just six starts in Serie A) and was criticised over some of his performances.
Now back at Liverpool and involved with the pre-season camp in Chicago, the 30-year-old is determined to atone for that difficult campaign and spoke of his delight at returning to his parent club.
The ‘Greek Scouser’ told liverpoolfc.com: “I couldn’t wait [to return to LFC], to be honest. I had a very tough and strange season last year, but I’m fully here. I trained so hard alone in the off-season.
“During the last season [at Liverpool], even if I didn’t have so much game-time for some reasons, I’m really here. I’m really happy to be back, really glad and I can’t wait to wear the jersey.”
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With Andy Robertson having moved on to Tottenham Hotspur, Tsimikas is now the main challenger to Milos Kerkez for the left-back berth in the Reds’ starting XI, and both of them should receive ample game-time during the pre-season fixtures.
This next month could be vital for the Greece international in terms of making his case to new head coach Andoni Iraola, with Liverpool facing a big decision on the defender’s future now that he’s into the final year of his contract.
His frustrations at Roma coincided with a dreary, morale-sapping season for his parent club, and both will be determined to put that behind him with much improved fortunes in 2026/27.
Tsimikas will be 31 next May, and reports that the Reds have a ‘concrete plan’ to try and sign Borussia Dortmund left-back Daniel Svensson would suggest that the ‘Greek Scouser’ could plausibly be coming towards the end of his time at Anfield.
For now, hopefully he can make a positive impression on Iraola in pre-season and provide valuable cover for and competition to Kerkez for a place in the starting XI, with Liverpool facing into yet another campaign of fighting on four fronts and the squad rotation issues that inevitably brings.
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