Kostas Tsimikas admits he has experienced a "difficult" beginning to his Liverpool career - but has been helped to settle by Mohamed Salah.
Tsimikas is still waiting to make his Premier League debut after signing for £11.75million from Olympiakos last summer.
The 24-year-old left-back has been limited to three Champions League outings and a League Cup appearance due to thigh and knee problems.
However, Tsimikas has been on the bench for the last three games and is now eager for an opportunity with Liverpool in the midst of a hectic period of the season.
"Every beginning is difficult," he said. "The boys and the manager helped me a lot to be directly in the team. It helped me a lot.
"I try also in training to understand what the manager says to me and to be ready as fast as I can.
"From the first moment I love this team. I'm here, 100% fit for every game (coming up) and ready to give my best.
"I work very hard every day to be ready for this day. It was frustrating for me because I was never injured before but now I'm back, I'm strong and ready for this and await it."
Tsimikas has already developed a close bond with Mohamed Salah since arriving at Anfield, with the pair regularly photographed together during training sessions at Kirkby.
"I didn't know him before but I played at Olympiacos with one team-mate in the Egypt national team," said Tsimikas, who will hope for at least bench duty at West Ham United on Sunday.
"When I signed, this guy called me and he was with Mo. We started speaking and then the next day we had the same flight from Greece to Austria for the preparations.
"We had time there to speak a lot and from the first minute we are very close.
"He helped me a lot around the team. He's one of my best mates here in the club. Not just as a player, he's a very good guy also."
Tsimikas was bought to apply pressure on Andy Robertson in the left-back role, and is hopeful the pair can push each other on to greater heights.
Speaking to liverpoolfc.com, he added: "I'm always watching him. He played a lot of years here in England, is one of the best left-backs in the world.
"Always I learn from him every day, every single training session or in the game. He's a very good guy as well.
"He's here to make me better and I'm here to make him a better player."
