The Hungarian national team midfielder has eclipsed Mohamed Salah and £116 million newcomer Florian Wirtz, becoming the first name on Arne Slot’s team list and increasingly drawing comparisons to Steven Gerrard.
Dominik Szoboszlai began nodding as soon as he was asked the question, and a faint smile appeared on his face. It was June 2025, and he was asked if he was afraid that with the arrival of Florian Wirtz, who was about to sign a contract with Liverpool, he might fall out of Arne Slot’s team.
Soboslai responded correctly and to the point. He acknowledged that Wirtz was not being bought from Bayer for £116 million for a place on the bench, promised to work hard in pre-season and made it clear that he would not be easily displaced from the starting line-up.
At the same time, a slight smile made it clear that deep down, the 25-year-old player considered this question a mistake on the part of the journalist: the Premier League champion had no reason to believe that his career would suddenly go off course.
On the contrary, Soboslai took the challenge so seriously that Mohamed Salah said in early February that his teammate already deserved to be considered one of the best midfielders in the world. Now the question is no longer ‘what will Liverpool do with Soboslai,’ but ‘what would they do without him?’
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His play in a team that is struggling to maintain its high level reflects the confidence he has gained by becoming a champion.
Soboslai is used to winning. He has won something every season of his career. The Austrian Bundesliga every season with Red Bull Salzburg, two German Cups in a row with RB Leipzig and the English League Cup in his debut season with Liverpool after moving to Anfield for £60 million.
Conquering the English heights gave him extra momentum and spurred his desire for stability, which becomes second nature to those who are considered elite.
At Anfield, there was never a sense that Soboslai would be relegated to the role of observer after the arrival of Wirtz, a more attacking midfielder.
Klopp has always valued the qualities of a player he described last season as ‘un-be-lievable,’ deliberately emphasising each syllable for greater effect. It is difficult to imagine a scenario in which Szoboszlai would voluntarily be left out of the starting line-up.
A couple of times a week after training, Szoboszlai usually stays on the pitch with Wirtz, Salah and Cody Gakpo, and they bombard third-choice goalkeeper Freddie Woodman, lobbing balls over mannequins placed in the right spots.
As a child, he never specifically studied other people’s techniques, but when he figured out how to lob the ball over the wall, he realised he had a gift that could become his trademark.
Training has brought this skill to perfection. An impressive collection of goals from set pieces — remember his goals in matches against Arsenal, Bournemouth, Marseille and Manchester City — brought even more recognition to the talented Hungarian, who arrived on Merseyside with a reputation as a master of long-range shots.
This season, Dominik has scored ten goals — his best tally in a Liverpool shirt and another step forward in his all-round game.
In his homeland, Szoboszlai has long been called the new Ferenc Puskás, and recently he has been increasingly compared to former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard.
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