Does Konstantinos Tsimikas Have a Future at Liverpool?

Last summer, Konstantinos Tsimikas signed for the English champions Liverpool for a reported fee of £11.75 million but, since his arrival, he has struggled to break into the first team at Anfield. A highly-valued prospect in Greece, Tsimikas’ arrival surprised many Liverpool fans who were unfamiliar with him and had been expecting the signing of Norwich City’s Jamal Lewis instead.

It’s been a season to forget for Liverpool, overall. A dramatic midseason slump that included six straight defeats at Anfield, where they had been undefeated for 68 league games before it, has seen them fall well short of defending their Premier League title. They’ve also gone out of the FA Cup, which rivals Manchester City now sit favorites to win in their absence, according to the latest English FA Cup odds. Elsewhere, a penalty shootout loss to Arsenal dumped them out of the League Cup at the fourth-round stage.

Crippled by injuries to the back line, Liverpool have underperformed in the absence of Virgil van Djik, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip with season-long injuries. One player who has been the picture of health all season, however, is starting left-back Andy Robertson, seen by many as one of the best in the world at his position. That’s made it hard for Tsimikas to make his mark in this Liverpool team, where he’s been restricted to a single 90-minute outing this season in the League Cup victory over Lincoln in September.

At 24 years old, Tsimikas will soon be approaching the prime of his playing career, and Olympiakos fans know the quality he has on the left flank that could go to waste sitting on the bench at Anfield. He also remains starting left-back for the Greek national squad, but it will be increasingly hard to stay in contention if not playing regular first-team football, with important World Cup qualifiers on the horizon in September. The Galanolefki started their qualifying campaign in Group B with two draws against Spain and Georgia in March.

Stuck competing with Scotland captain Robertson for playing time, Tsimikas has his work cut out to become a permanent fixture in this Liverpool starting eleven. But even he would have expected to be more involved this campaign, with James Milner often deputising at left-back instead when Robertson is rotated out of the team during fixture congestion.

What was meant to be a season to stoutly defend their Premier League title has turned into damage control for Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool. After righting the ship in March, they now find themselves in a fight for top four that could see them miss Champions League football entirely next campaign – they face stiff competition from Leicester and Chelsea, in the top four for most of the season, as well as surprise outfit West Ham and local rivals Everton. And of course, who knows what this Liverpool team could look like next season if they miss the Champions League and feel the need to sell players in the summer.

For Konstantinos Tsimikas, all he can do for now is try hard in training and bide his time – it remains to be seen if he can force himself into Klopp’s plans with a good summer camp. But if not, he may have to consider other options, even elsewhere in the Premier League, if he is to play football every week.