Stoke City midfielder Adam: Robertson is the best left-back in Europe

The midfielder played with Reds man on international duty and believes he has since developed into one of the world’s greatest

Stoke City’s Charlie Adam has claimed Liverpool defender Andy Robertson is the best left-back in Europe and believes the Scotland captain is worth around £70m.

Few would have thought this was possible 18 months ago however, when Robertson was relegated to the Championship with Hull City, but the 24-year-old has since developed rapidly and is now a guaranteed starter in Jurgen Klopp’s side.

Adam, who spent 18 months of his career at Anfield, told The Scotsman in a recent interview that he recognised the full-back’s potential after seeing him up close and personal while on international duty.

The midfielder even encouraged Stoke to make a bid for Robertson when Hull were relegated in 2017.

“I said to Stoke at the time we should have bought him for £8 million – it was cheap,” said Adam.

“Liverpool could afford to throw that at him though, and if it hadn’t worked it wouldn’t have been a gamble for them. What’s that £8m worth now? Put a five in front of it at least – it’s probably £60m, £70m, for a left-back.

“Fair play to him. And the biggest thing for him now will be if they can win that league – they’re in a great position

“If Liverpool won the league, he’d be a cult hero,” he said. “The players love him, the fans love him – Liverpool have always had a tradition of Scottish players and the one thing they always love about them is how hard they work. We have the most endeavour, we want to win, we have a passion and they’ve related to him in that way.

“But don’t forget he’s also a quality player. His assists, the link-up play he has with [Sadio] Mane is fantastic,” he added.

It hasn’t all been plain sailing for Robertson since joining Liverpool, and he initially struggled to get the team ahead of Alberto Moreno.

Adam believes that makes Robertson’s short rise even more impressive.

“Although it took him three or four months to get the opportunity, he hasn’t been out of the team since,” Adam said. Jurgen [Klopp] had him on the sidelines, but he did well in training, got his chance and has never looked back.

“He’s been the best left-back in the league, probably the best left-back in the Champions League as well. He’s proof that it’s not where you start your career that matters, it’s where you finish.

“No disrespect to Queen’s Park but Andy knows where the low point is, part-time, working on match-days at Hampden – to get to where he is now is incredible.”