There is something refreshing about Milos Kerkez. No corporate speak, no carefully managed media training, just a young lad who walked out of the AXA Training Centre after seeing Mo Salah's career stats flash up on a screen and genuinely could not process what he was looking at.

That moment tells you everything about the impression Salah left on his teammates, and on Kerkez in particular. The pair spent just one season together at Liverpool, but the bond clearly ran deeper than a standard dressing room acquaintance. Kerkez has kept in touch with the Egyptian since his end-of-season exit, though the conversations, by the sound of it, are more holiday snaps than transfer gossip.

"As for Mo, I saw on the TV before we left the AXA, how many goals and assists Mo had, it was 300 and something," Kerkez said, speaking to a group of publications including the Liverpool Echo in Chicago. "I just walked out! What is this?!"

It is the kind of reaction that needs no embellishment. Three hundred-odd goal contributions across a Liverpool career, and a 22-year-old left-back left momentarily speechless in the training ground corridor. That is a legacy.

But Kerkez is also clear-eyed about what comes next. Football moves on, squads evolve, and Liverpool are no different. "Time flies, a new generation comes with new players and hopefully everything will be good," he said. As for where Salah ends up as a free agent, Kerkez is as much in the dark as the rest of us. "Yeah we speak often but I don't know who he is signing for! We just talk about vacations."

Good to know the man has his priorities right.

Away from the Salah farewell, Kerkez also addressed the situation at left-back heading into the new season. Kostas Tsimikas is back at the club following a loan spell with Roma in Serie A, and the Greek defender will now compete directly with Kerkez for the starting berth under Andoni Iraola. It is the sort of scenario that can breed tension in a dressing room, but Kerkez is having none of it.

"Kostas and I get on well. Last pre-season we also connected really good. It was me, Dom, Kostas and Mo. There is no bad blood. Kostas is Greek, I'm Serbian, we have that kind of similar mentality."

There is something almost matter-of-fact about how he says it, which is exactly how it should be. Two good players competing for the same shirt, with mutual respect and no drama. That is a healthy dressing room right there.

The Dom in question, of course, is Dominik Szoboszlai, Kerkez's fellow Hungarian and, by all accounts, his closest ally at the club. Szoboszlai was Liverpool's standout performer last season and has been rewarded with a new contract, confirmed earlier this month. Kerkez could not hide his delight at the news.

"It was very important. Last year you could see how important he was with everything," Kerkez said of his compatriot. "He is getting even better in that role of a leader and he is very important for us. Everyone is really happy that he is continuing for longer."

The affection there is genuine, and the broader picture it paints is an encouraging one. Kerkez, Szoboszlai, and the players around them are not just teammates, they are the foundation of something being built with real intent. The Salah era was extraordinary, generational even, and nobody at Liverpool should pretend otherwise. But the players who remain are not in mourning. They are ready.

Kerkez himself had a straightforward enough summer, by the sounds of it. Time with family in Serbia, a spell in Spain, a trip around Montenegro, and then the inevitable restlessness that comes to footballers who are not built to switch off entirely. "The summer was nice. I spent time with my family, rested a bit and honestly it was getting boring after about 10 days so I needed to get in the gym and touch the ball a little bit."

Ten days before the walls started closing in. That kind of hunger tends to serve you well when the competitive fixtures start rolling in.

With pre-season already under way in the United States, Kerkez and his teammates are getting their first taste of life in the Iraola era. The squad dynamic sounds settled, the attitude sounds right, and at 22, Kerkez himself still has enormous room to grow into this Liverpool side.

A new generation, as he put it. And on this early evidence, it looks like it is arriving in pretty decent shape.