Kostas Tsimikas has set his sights on regular first-team action at Liverpool after making his first appearance for the club in Saturday’s 3-0 friendly win over Stuttgart.
The Greek full-back played 45 minutes of the pre-season clash in Austria, with goals from Roberto Firmino, Naby Keita and Rhian Brewster earning victory for the Premier league champions.
Speaking to the club’s website after the run-out, Tsimikas said: “I feel very good, I’m very happy I did my debut.
“Now I want to work more and to play more often in the league games. I want to be ready for everything.”
Tsimikas has only been at the club a matter of weeks following his £11.75 million ($15m) arrival from Olympiacos, but has quickly settled in after being made to feel welcome by his team-mates.
“The sessions have been really hard. But I have to try a lot to work hard and be ready,” added the 24-year-old, who will provide competition for first choice left-back Andy Robertson at Anfield this season.
“Every player made me a warm welcome. They helped me a lot to do my best on the pitch, to give everything. And all together we hope for the best.
“I want to start [the season], I’m looking forward to the new season. I hope we will do and achieve our goals.”
Saturday’s win came after a week-long training camp on the outskirts of Salzburg, as Jurgen Klopp’s side prepare for the defence of their Premier League title.
The Merseyside club face Salzburg on Tuesday before returning to England for the Community Shield against Arsenal at Wembley next weekend.
“The friendly games are difficult. First of all we have to be fit, that’s why I tried to run a lot first of all; to show a good image and play hard. And the result is the most important [thing], even in the friendly games and the competitive games,” said Tsimikas.
“It was a good performance, we did what we do all these days in training. What the coach wants, we did on the pitch. We won.
“We’ll keep this and we want to be ready for the [Community Shield] final on the 29th.”