The Hungarian suffered a dip in form after a stunning start to his Anfield career, but he's re-emerged as a huge influence in recent months
It's not always easy but, in general, footballers don't like to look too far ahead. Things can change quickly on and off the field. Getting caught up in trophy talk can be dangerous. It's nearly always best to embrace the 'one game at a time' cliche. Dominik Szoboszlai learned that valuable lesson last season.
He never made any ill-advised or arrogant predictions or proclamations but, looking back on Liverpool's quadruple bid under Jurgen Klopp, which unravelled not long after their Carabao Cup triumph, the Hungary captain now feels he was a little too forthcoming about his team's chances of a clean sweep.
"When I came to Liverpool I wanted to win everything in my first season!" he recently admitted. "So, I don't like to talk about the title now."
Hardly surprising, then, that when Szoboszlai was asked about Liverpool fans singing 'We're going to win the league' during the closing stages of last Sunday week's 2-0 win at Manchester City, he swerved the issue. "I didn't hear that," he said before immediately adding, "I was so tired."
Of course, that could easily have been the case, because Szoboszlai really did run himself into the ground at the Etihad – quite literally, with the exhausted midfielder collapsing to the turf the moment the full-time whistle blew. Just three days later, though, he somehow summoned up sufficient energy to produce another 90-minute display of dynamism as Liverpool took another significant step towards winning the title by beating Newcastle at home to move 13 points clear of second-placed Arsenal.
What's more, Szoboszlai had scored in back-to-back games for Liverpool for the first time since arriving at Anfield in the summer of 2023 – further evidence that a player still being criticised just last month for his lack of an end product has become a staple in Arne Slot's side.
£60 million 'steal'
Not many players have made a more immediate impact at Liverpool than Szoboszlai. He'd been signed from RB Leipzig for £60 million ($76m), a not insignificant sum of money, but quickly set about showing why his former boss at Red Bull Salzburg, Jesse Marsch, considered it "a steal".
There were no airs or graces about Szoboszlai, but from the moment he walked in the door, he looked right at home at Anfield. Even the incredibly colourful Klopp was struck by the Hungarian's "charisma".
He clearly didn't lack confidence, either. Szoboszlai took the No.8 jersey once worn by his idol Steven Gerrard (he even has a tattoo inspired by the former Reds skipper) and plenty of comparisons were drawn between the two during the first few months of the 2023-24 season.
Marsch felt that Szoboszlai was actually more like "a modern-day David Beckham" because "when the ball is on his right foot he can put it anywhere he wants. The precision and the pace he can put on the ball is ridiculous. And I say 'modern day', it's because he is more mobile and more dynamic [than Beckham]."
AdvertisementGetty Images SportHeavy work load takes its toll
However, it wouldn't be long before Szoboszlai's all-action approach began to catch up with him. After playing every minute of Liverpool's opening 10 Premier League games, he almost inevitably began to slow down, before breaking down. He picked up a hamstring problem in January and never really recovered.
Szoboszlai was directly involved in 11 goals last season, but only three after returning from injury – and all of those arrived during the two legs of the Europa League last-16 tie with Sparta Prague. Tellingly, he ran out of steam around the same time as his team, with Szoboszlai afforded just one start during Liverpool's final seven Premier League games.
Unsurprisingly, he also struggled at Euro 2024 as Hungary failed to make it out of their group. "He was not in top form and this is also a consequence of the fact that he has not been at 100 percent since his injury in the winter," the president of the Hungarian football federation (MLSZ), Sandor Csanyi, told in July. "At the Euros, he had also been struggling with a minor injury for a long time."
'Numbers need to go up'
Thankfully, Szoboszlai has had no such fitness issues this season. He's only missed two Premier League games to date: one through suspension, and the other through illness.
Ryan Gravenberch's emergence as the solution to Liverpool's longstanding problem at No.6 has certainly helped, as Slot now essentially has four versatile potential starters to choose from in midfield (Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister and Curtis Jones are the other three), while Wataru Endo has proven himself an extremely useful option off the bench, a dual-winning machine that can be utilised when team-mates are exhausted and games need to be closed out.
However, while Slot was happy with Szoboszlai's performance and fitness levels during the first half of the season, it was telling that he publicly demanded more decisive contributions from his first-choice No.10 in the final third.
The Dutchman acknowledged that while the 24-year-old's pressing was "outstanding", he needed to be "even more involved in scoring goals and creating chances for us.
"Last season he scored three [in the league] and, for an attacking midfielder at Liverpool, his numbers need to go up." They are now, though.
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Szoboszlai has already surpassed his tally of goal involvements for 2023-24 and he's in far better shape going into the business end of the season than he was at this point last year. Indeed, only three Reds played every minute of their crucial and gruelling recent run of five Premier League games in 15 days, and Szoboszlai was one of them (captain Virgil van Dijk and goalkeeper Alisson Becker were the others).
Even more encouragingly, he got stronger as the games got tougher. Szoboszlai was excellent in the 2-2 draw at Aston Villa and would have had a deserved, game-winning assist had Darwin Nunez not missed an open goal midway through the second half.
Mohamed Salah, though, was never going to waste the clever near-post flick that bamboozled Man City at the Etihad, while Szoboszlai then netted the killer second goal after being released into space shortly before the break by the Egyptian.