A a wide smile unfolds on Milos Kerkez’s babyface as he watches a clip of himself doing what he probably does best: putting his body on the line for a cause, in this case his former club, AZ Alkmaar. It was last year in May, deep in a 3-0 Eredivisie win at Noviomagus, when the ball went free after an expert tackle on the touchline. When he went to the ground, surely Kerkez would strike the unjust Antonio Musaba to the sword?
“My teammate Tijjani Reijnders went: “No, no! I said, ‘I have something.’ Bournemouth defender And so Kerkez, supine, rushes at the ball, throwing his body at it, mid-air like a mad commando, blocks it and retains possession. “I wanted to hit him with the head, but he left the back. I mean, isn’t it still busy?”
It is, he says, an innate instinct. That passion became clear when he was a boy on the streets of Vrba, the Serbian town where he grew up, 30 miles north of Novi Sad, with his older brothers, Rade and Marko, who play for Partizan Belgrade. Not jumpers but stone blocks to the goalpost. My brothers were hard on me. They would seize me, I would fall, cut my skin and bleed. I understood: ‘I would like you to do this.’ Cars couldn’t drive off the road because otherwise the ball would hit our cars, so they were around… we’re playing football now. They laughed, he said, as he ran. “Those were good times.”
These days also excite the Hungarian international Kerkez, an athletic force in one of the most absorbing teams in the Premier League, a self-proclaimed “crazy left-back”. According to Bournemouth data, their average distance of 107 km per game is second only to Brentford in the division. Andoni Iraola’s side never know when they’ve been beaten, as evidenced by the amazing comeback win at Verton in August and Gippewick last time eboth games were lost after 86 minutes.
“We have a team with the profile of players who can run at maximum intensity for the whole game … we are tough to play against. You can feel it in the game when you put the other team under pressure: ‘Ah, this is tough.’ They can’t settle down. It’s hard, but the moments to recover, the throw-ins, the free kicks… sometimes we need a minute or two to calm down a bit. Then we can go again for 30 minutes.”
Kerkez therefore rightly appreciates the importance of the exchange-off. “when the summer goes” [to Serbia] I will only go on three or four days’ holidays, I will be alone at home, perhaps with one friend, it is cold there, I will cut wood, fire, camp, fish, that is, no telephone. People focus on decorating you, but you need something else, because when you do that, when you come back, you are more motivated to do more on the pitch. .
During the international break, Erling Haaland sometimes recharges at the roots, the striker previously posted updates from Norway, baton in hand. “Of course he has that Viking mentality, as you know how he is, he wants to be in the wilderness. I also like to be abroad, to go into the woods and stay there for a week… I did it sometimes; The fish that I caught fire, fry, clean, eat the same night.
Kerkez, who is learning to drive his theory at the end of the month, may have only recently turned 21, but he has big plans. He wants to give back to his family, especially his mother, Tiijana, and his father, Sebastijan, who sometimes had to follow his progress at a distance. During the eight months Kerkez was 18 years old in Hungary, his father worked in a chemical factory in Germany, where Rade also worked, and his mum had three jobs across the treatment. “It was a little tough growing up,” he said. He helped Gippewick and Watford striker Tamas Priskin set him up Gyor – the pair reunited at Portman Road last weekend – before making an eye-catching move to Milan, rubber-stamped hours after a video call from Paulo Maldini.
Given his energy level, it’s not surprising that Kerkez learned to enjoy going to public parks and climbing trees as a kid. “My age is going up, but I’m always the same,” he laughs. He also spent a lot of time on his father’s farm, gathering chicken eggs, surrounded by birds and bulls. He loves to spend the whole day on the farm, with dogs, ducks, fish, and wild animals. He will build a new one, I hope soon. A larger one, with more animals. I want horses, cows, dogs, everything. I want to have a big space, so that I can go there, I just disconnect. I want to build a lake, fill it with fish so that I can fish all day. There is an idea about my father, but we have to make a decision now.”
Now Kerkez, who is learning the German language after five years living in Austria while participating in the youth system at Veleri Vienna, has kicked off again. His language is perfect, and he can also speak Hungarian and Italian. “Everything changed quickly. It’s a little crazy. Everything was going: ‘boom.’ I knew I could do it… but I didn’t know I could do it so quickly.
They registered the first goal against Bournemouth in the month of the wolf. “A great achievement from the team: did you see how many passes we made before? I just felt like I had to finish it. It was in my head: ‘Break hard.’ I’m worried about going into the middle [of the goal] but it went to the top corner. Yes, really nice.”
Post Newsletter promotion
He lives with his parents in Lilliput near the Pole, and a six-month-old Rottweiler, Maximus, who has raw food and can weigh up to 85 kg. “He’s going to be a big boy. I want to teach him that he can’t do anything until I tell him … that’s how my other dog is, alluding to Hades. After the underworld, the God of the underworld, he said. Amsterdam, but now it is in Serbia.”
A conversation with Kerkez is like Bournemouth, fluid and fun; through YouTube the haircuts of Roberto Carlos in the late teens, when he makes his debut in Hungary at 18, and forming a close friendship with Dominik Szoboszlai, returning the Grade 92 greeting, the barber shop owned by Adam Smith and Louis Cook to his Bournemouth teammates, his love. his mother’s cooking – Serbian cuppedia cevapi, grilled mincemeat, or kajmak, a creamy dairy calorific dish – and megaphone grabbing after Alkmaar is fit for the Europa League conference stage. “Okay, now I have to sing and say something.” When you give it your all, the fans give you love back.’
Kerkez is famous for his lung-running at the opposition byline but takes pride in his defensive skills. “Perhaps they see how much I progress and forget about my defense, but for the first time I am good in a duel, one v one. Anything extra is good because you want to do it, why not? It is best for the defenders to close our wings. When asked if any of the fights proved enough, Kerkez’s response speaks volumes about his character. “I don’t care who it is. I’m just doing my job.”
Rade, his oldest brother, is arguably his biggest fan and often plays as Bournemouth when he and Milos see each other in a Fifa game. “He watches every week for my game – that’s the best day of the week when my game comes. “I don’t know what to do when I don’t play for three days,” he said. Kerkez turned Vojvodina, the country he hails from in Serbia, into Cherries. The whole place in kite Bournemouth. Everyone wants a jersey. “Every time I go back now I see younger kids just using their phones and staying inside the house playing video games.
“It makes me a little sad that 10 years ago it wasn’t like that. We just waited for us to go outside to play football. My mum always called me at home. ‘Come back, come back.’ When I come back and join the kids, I want to help them get a little bit of that fire back because it’s sad to see the younger generations on the screens. I’m talking to my father about building an indoor pitch in my town; I want to bring two coaches.
Bournemouth are looking to eclipse last season’s haul of 48 points, the best tally in the top flight. West Ham entertain on Monday in their quest to secure a fourth line that can extend their excellent home form. Manchester City, Arsenal and Tottenham all left Dorchester is empty during these months, when no one steals. “We are pushing, but not even in the middle of the season and in the Premier League everything can change in two games,” said Kerkez. As for its ultimate goal? “I believe I can make it to the top level of the league … then I can build an even bigger pool,” he said.