Milos Kerkez: before Bournemouth
A SCOUTED-exclusive interview from 2022 with the then-teenage full-back.
Before Andoni Iraola entered his life, Milos Kerkez was a teenager breaking through at AZ Alkmaar. In 2022, SCOUTED writer Bence Bocsak sat down with the then-teenage full-back - and what they spoke about is fascinating in retrospect.
At just 18 years old, Milos Kerkez has already played in five different countries, broken hearts at AC Milan, and established himself as a cult favourite in the Netherlands. Everywhere he goes, heads turn - and he is showing no signs of slowing down. As we speak, a senior international cap for Hungary looms.
“It’s an honour to play for the national team,” Kerkez says, when he picks up the phone. “Whether the coach needs me for five minutes or ninety minutes, I will go out there and give it my best and put in the tackles. I feel like I am ready.”
The 18-year-old, who is still very much on the rise, has enjoyed a remarkable few years. It’s hard to believe less than two years ago, instead of facing Ajax, Germany or Italy in the space of a few days, he was taking on the likes of Dorog and Kazincbarcika in Hungary’s second division.
Some of Europe’s elite made the trip to Győr to watch him in action. Kerkez received plenty of approaches, but in the end, it was one phone call from an icon of European football that sealed the deal.
“There was a lot of interest in me in the winter. Everything was going fast because the period was so short. I actually wanted to stay in Hungary to grow more physically and leave in the summer. Two days before the window, [Paolo] Maldini called me personally, and he wanted a meeting with me and my father, and we spoke, and that was a big pull for me. You know when Maldini is calling you, you are not thinking too much.
“After that, it was obvious I was going to go to Milan. It was a big club, and when they want you like this, you cannot say no.”
The leap from Hungary’s second division to one of the biggest clubs in world football was not something that fazed Kerkez. He joined AC Milan’s Primavera team and settled in quickly.
“You have a lot of really talented young players in the Primavera and you can grow tactically there, which was good for me. I was determined to prove myself.”
