Kostas Tsimikas (ΚώσταςΤσιμίκας) became Liverpool's first summer signing as Premier League champions on Monday evening after years of extensive scouting on the Greek international.
Sporting Director, Michael Edwards complied a database that holds substantial data on hundreds of players over the years and Tsimikas’ name was added during his loan spell at Willem II alongside then Red, Pedro Chirivella.
Club scouts were present throughout the season to keep an eye on the Spaniard, but it was the Greek full-back that impressed the Reds the most.
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The Stats...
In his season-long loan with Willem II during the 17/18 season, he made 33 appearances for the club under Reinier Robbemond, contributing with three goals and three assists.
To date that is his best output recorded in a season but interestingly, his offensive stats this campaign for Olympiacos is remarkably similar to that of Andy Robertson during his last year with Hull City.
The energetic, forward-thinking approach by Robertson is matched by his Greek counterpart which will no doubt fill Jürgen Klopp with immense joy knowing he can rest the Scotsman during the hectic footballing schedule without fear his replacement will fail to adjust to the expectation of a Liverpool full-back.
Fans across the world have come accustomed to seeing Klopp's full-backs operate as near wingers over the past few seasons as Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson broke record after record for the Reds.
Having grown up as a winger himself, the full-back system utilised by Liverpool will suit Tsimikas to a tee but just like with the Scotsman, it may take the ex-Olympiacos man a few months to adapt to the complex system deployed by the World, European and English champions.
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UEFA Champions League
The only competition both Robertson and Tsimikas played in during the 2019/20 season was the UEFA Champions League.
When looking at the two players' output, you can see that naturally, Tsimikas is having to defend much more than Robertson as he is playing for a far inferior outfit but remarkably is still able to attack more than the Scot.
If we look at this at face value, it indicates that Tsimikas will be bombing up and down the wings to contribute both in defence and attack.
One area which the Greek international seems to need to dramatically improve is his vision. To play full-back at Liverpool is unbelievably testing, both technically and physically.
The cross-field switches of play to the opposite full-back, which requires a great deal of vision, has become a staple of The Reds' build-up play over the last two seasons.
When Tsimikas does come in for first-choice Robertson, there will be an expectation that he can perform similar tricks at left-back and it won't be a surprise at all if this is something the Liverpool coaching staff concentrate on during his first few weeks of pre-season training.
Tsimikas is far from the finished article but as far as backups go, at the age of 24, he has bags of potential and under the guidance of the best coach in Europe, we could well see the Greek international flourish in Liverpool red.
One thing is for sure, he can't be worse than Sotirios Kyrgiakos, the last Greek international to feature for the club...