Rising Ballers is back and better than ever, and it’s only appropriate to cover a player that I’ve had my eyes on for a while: Milos Kerkez.

While a historically strong soccer nation — if you go back to the ‘50s — Hungary hasn’t produced too many “world-class players,” a silly but semi-meaningful phrase, in recent decades. Now, they might have two.

The other is Dominik Szoboszlai, currently plying his trade for Premier League leaders, Liverpool. Szoboszlai has unfortunately aged out of column eligibility at 24 years old but is certainly living up to his potential.

A left-back by trade, Kerkez plays a less sexy position than his fellow countryman but one in which there’s a serious dearth of truly elite players. A few of Europe’s biggest teams could be looking to sign a left-back in the coming summer, including Manchester United, Real Madrid and Manchester City, where Pep Guardiola continues his reboot after a blip of a season.

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Perhaps even Liverpool could join a race for Kerkez’s signature if this season’s likely champions decide to move on from Scottish stalwart Andrew Robertson, who’s beginning to show his age after eight seasons running the Reds’ left flank.

None of those teams would go wrong signing Kerkez, who has played a key role in Bournemouth’s high-flying start to the Premier League season. The Cherries currently sit in seventh place, which would be the club’s highest-ever finish in the English top flight.

Even more impressively, Manager Andoni Iraola has earned his team a reputation as giant killers, having beaten Newcastle, Arsenal and Manchester City this season, plus a 1-1 draw against Nottingham Forest on opening day: a result that looks infinitely better with the benefit of hindsight as Forest shockingly occupies third place after starting the season as relegation candidates.

Even with serious upward momentum and the financial power that mid-table clubs in other countries don’t enjoy, Bournemouth will struggle to keep Kerkez for much longer, in part because of his versatility. Kerkez will be able to fit many coaches’ systems because he can do a bit of everything across the pitch.

In modern football, a full- back is typically asked to stretch the pitch in attack and create chances from the wide areas, which Kerkez can absolutely do. He’s contributed three assists in the league, almost exactly in line with his 2.9 expected assists, a stat measuring the quality of chance a player creates. For a non-attacking player, that’s a solid figure — only four defenders have provided more assists this season.

In his team’s context, that stat looks even better: Bournemouth ranks 15 out of the Premier League’s 20 sides in average possession per match at just 45.9% per game. If any possession-dominant team were to sign him, say City or Liverpool, his total chances created would tick up by default.

And at 21 years old, Kerkez’s game still has plenty of room to improve. He’s already averaging almost one additional shot-creating action per 90 minutes played this season (2.36) — defined as any pass, dribble or foul drawn that leads to a shot — than he did last season (1.46).

Nonetheless, a defender also has to defend.

Admittedly, Kerkez still needs to work on his ball-winning ability, as he ranks in the 18th percentile among positional peers in Europe’s top five leagues for tackles per game. He is also not the tallest, standing at just under 5-foot-9, so he doesn’t win tons of headers.

While Guardiola and his Arsenal counterpart Mikel Arteta have often played center backs out wide, Kerkez has a more traditional full back profile, for which future suitors would have to account. But all things considered, Kerkez is still a capable defender, particularly at intercepting passes, where his 1.16 per 90 puts him in the 72nd percentile.

If there’s one role Kerkez might not fully suit, it’d be that of the inverting full-back, a tactical choice that involves a left or right back stepping into midfield in possession. Kerkez’s strength is his ability to get forward and contribute to the attack, and as such, he takes a hefty portion of his touches in the attacking third, — almost 34%, to put a number on it.

Chelsea’s left back, Marc Cucurella, who’s become known for his comfort in the midfield this season, only takes about 21% of his touches in the attacking third. For that reason, if I had to pick Kerkez’s ideal future club, it would be Liverpool, where his comfort high up on the left wing would more closely resemble Robertson’s role and touch ratio at roughly 30%.

But for the time being, let’s enjoy the Kerkez experience at Bournemouth while we still can. This is a team on a mission, chock full of players bought into their coach’s ideas and system. And while Liverpool looks ready to run away with the title, Bournemouth has a marquee opportunity to play the spoiler once more.

Tune in on Saturday, Feb. 1, as the Reds head to the south coast, where Kerkez could leave his mark on a potential future employer.

Jack Hallinan is a senior writing about the top wunderkinds in men’s and women’s soccer in his column, “Rising Ballers”.