Virgil van Dijk won’t be at Liverpool forever, and Robbie Fowler already has a candidate lined up to replace him as club captain.
Despite some struggles this season, Van Dijk is clearly still capable of playing at this level. At 34, he has juice in the tank, but someone will eventually have to take the armband.
Fowler assumed the role of captain at Anfield back in his first stint at the club, so he understands what it means. For him, there’s one clear choice to take over from the Dutchman — Dominik Szoboszlai.
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Dominik Szoboszlai fouls Erling Haaland which resulted in a red card at the end of the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Manchester City
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He explained his choice in a sit-down with This Is Anfield.
Robbie Fowler explains why Dominik Szoboszlai is Liverpool captain material
The Hungarian is no stranger to leadership. He has worn the armband for his country since the age of 22, and broke the record for youngest-ever captain at the 2024 EUROs.
Liverpool fans tip Szoboszlai to be the captain when Van Dijk leaves, and Fowler clearly agrees.
He said: “Now Virgil’s obviously a little bit quieter than Jordan Henderson, brilliant captain, but Dominik Szoboszlai is a player who can be a captain. I’m not saying that he should be. He can be because of his performances.
Dominik Szoboszlai and Virgil van Dijk
Photo by Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images
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“So performance can dictate who your captain is or what you want from your captain because you want to go out there and you want the players to sort of learn from you and there’s different ways of learning and that could be showing that could be you know showing in your performance or so but he’s got that in the locker doesn’t he?”
If there’s one positive to take away from this up and down season, it’s that Szoboszlai has taken his game to a new level.
He has easily been Liverpool’s best performer and has dragged the side to results with goals, assists, and an unmatched work rate. As Fowler rightly points out, a captain leads by example and motivates players to follow them. If every Liverpool player took a leaf from his book, that would yield great results.
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Dominik Szoboszlai celebrates Liverpool goal
Photo by Giuseppe Cottini/Getty Images
Other Liverpool candidates for captain
Szoboszlai is worthy of the Liverpool armband, but it’s not like there’s much competition.
Looking through the squad, there is a dearth of captaincy experience, and really no other obvious candidates.
You could say Andy Robertson, but he could well be gone by the start of next season. Joe Gomez has seniority, but wouldn’t start enough. Alisson is the next most likely, but it’s better suited to an outfield player.
The more you look for options, the more you realise that Szoboszlai is the pick. Everyone can seem to agree on that.
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