Robbo has earned the right to go out HIS way

FROM 'SICK BOY' TO THE LEADER REDS CAN'T DO WITHOUT

- By PAUL WHEELOCK

HILE there's still plenty of time left in Andy Robertson's career, it is fair to say the modern-day Liverpool legend, at 31, is closer to the end of it than he is to the start.

And when the day comes for the Scotland skipper to sit back and reflect on what he's achieved in the game, November 2025 will be significant, as that was the month he led his country to their first World Cup finals in 28 years. But in terms of his time at Liverpool, it was eight years ago, in December 2017, that proved just as noteworthy.

With the eight major domestic, European and world trophies that have followed, it is easy to forget that Robertson's early months at Anfield were difficult.

He threw up on the first day of preseason as he tackled Andreas Kornmayer's fearsome and notorious lactate test. And while Jurgen Klopp was not present to see a mortified Robertson on the Melwood training pitches, the then Reds boss certainly heard about the situation, calling his new £8m buy from Hull City 'Mr Sick Boy or something like that,' according to the player himself, after they met for the first time in the days that followed.

Klopp being Klopp, no harm would have been intended, but while the German's man-management skills were legendary, new players were never given a free ride and Robertson clearly had to work hard to gain his trust.

Just 22 at the time, the young defender made just three appearances in Liverpool's first 22 games in all competitions of the 2017-18 campaign.

"It was tough," said Robertson, who five years earlier had been playing in the Scottish Third Division with Queen's Park after being released by Celtic for being too small, around that time. "It was a new situation for me and I probably didn't deal with it very well initially. I hate not being involved.

"I believe in myself and I always felt I could be out there contributing, so being up in the stand, watching the game with my family, wasn’t a nice experience.