Liverpool might have the next Steven Gerrard on their hands with one of Arne Slot's key men going from strength to strength. Dominik Szoboszlai has been among the club's best performers in recent matches, playing every minute in the Premier League this season. He was deployed in a deeper role against Bournemouth in the absence of Ryan Gravenberch, who missed the fixture after his partner gave birth.
Szoboszlai has featured as a right-back in Liverpool's last two games with Jeremie Frimpong sidelined until after the international break. He has excelled in his new role and scored a brilliant free-kick against Arsenal last weekend. It has led to comparisons with Gerrard, who wore the same shirt number during his time on Merseyside.
Rio Ferdinand was reminded of the former Liverpool captain while watching Szoboszlai's sumptuous strike against the Gunners.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ferdinand said: "These games are often decided by one moment of brilliance and Szoboszlai steps up and it’s an absolutely ridiculous free-kick.
"Wearing the number eight shirt, there was a number eight [in the] years gone by who was scoring goals like that on a regular basis and that was Steven Gerrard. He would have been proud of that one."
Szoboszlai, like any top-level footballer, has had to work exceptionally hard to get to where he is now. When he was growing up in Hungary, his father employed some unusual training methods to gain an edge over the other children he played with.
In an interview with The Athletic, the Liverpool midfielder revealed that he was made to dribble with a golf ball in each hand. The aim was to ensure that if Szoboszlai lost possession, he would win it back cleanly without grabbing his opponent.
"If someone goes past you, you want to grab his shirt, but my dad didn’t want that because of giving away fouls," he explained.
"He wanted to make sure I grew up without those habits. So, yeah, he’d put golf balls in every player’s hands. If you have that then you can’t grab anyone. He did some crazy things, I don’t want to say all of them."
Szoboszlai was also tasked with dribbling the ball between water bottles which had been placed around his house. If he knocked one over, he would have to start the drill over again.
"It was inside the house because we had no garden," he said. "If the water was still in the bottles, it was easier to dribble past them but if there wasn’t any in, it was a lot harder. My dad would pour the water out almost every single time.
"If one of the bottles fell, I just had to keep on doing it until none of them fell. I had to stay there until it was perfect, then I could go."
For the latest breaking stories and headlines, sign up to our Daily Express LFC newsletter.