Image Credits: Imago Images
When Liverpool closed in on Florian Wirtz, plenty of supporters and pundits wondered if Dominik Szoboszlai would be the one to make way, with the German tipped to take over as the side’s primary creator.
Instead, the Hungarian has treated the added competition as fuel, elevating his intensity off the ball and sharpening his output in the final third to the point where he feels almost undroppable in Arne Slot’s evolving system.
Wirtz has brought extra guile and control between the lines, but Szoboszlai’s engine, versatility and leadership ensure he remains central to Liverpool’s plans, turning a potential either‑or dilemma into a genuinely complementary partnership.
And it seems that Szoboszlai was always about putting the team first, at least according to Paul Joyce of the Times who has revealed how the Hungarian has helped Wirtz settle in to life in the Premier League and on Merseyside.
The reliable reporter has revealed:
“Szoboszlai offered reassurance to Wirtz during the 22-year-old’s first months at the club and stressed that the difficulties he was experiencing were normal.”
“He remembered his own first season and how he had run more than he ever did in the German Bundesliga, that there were more duels and less time on the ball. He relayed all that to Wirtz and stressed he would soon find his rhythm.”
Joyce also added that at Liverpool, internally, there was never a school of though that Wirtz would replace Szoboszlai:
“Internally, at Anfield there was never any sense that Szoboszlai would find himself sitting on the outside looking in following the arrival of Wirtz as a more offensive-minded No10. Slot has always valued the qualities of a player he described, drawing out every syllable for extra emphasis, as “un-be-liev-able” at one point last season.”
For all the noise around Wirtz’s arrival, what it has really done is shine an even brighter light on Szoboszlai’s importance to this Liverpool side. If anything, Slot now has two attacking midfielders driving standards up rather than one displacing the other – and that can only be good news for the Reds’ ambitions at home and in Europe.
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