On Sunday afternoon, Liverpool announced the signing of Dominik Szboboszlai from RB Leipzig for a fee of £60 million, with many labelling the Hungarian as the next step in Jurgen Klopp’s midfield rebuild.
Although this is certainly the case, it seems that the Reds have also bolstered their attacking options through the acquisition of the 22-year-old.
Szobozslai is actually more experienced as a winger than as a central midfielder, with the youngster playing 77% of his games last season as a right-winger, according to Transfermarkt.
Many fans don’t seem to think Liverpool need more attacking options with Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo, Diogo Jota, and Darwin Nunez already at the club.
However, in January Salah is likely to be absent most of the month due to international duty as Egypt participate in the African Cup of Nations, which has been a major worry amongst Liverpool fans for numerous times over recent years.
The right-hand side of attack has arguably been the Reds’ weakest point in the squad in terms of depth, with no one being a natural fit to compete with the Egyptian King.
In recent years we have seen the likes of Harvey Elliott, Diogo Jota, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Takumi Minamino being used on that flank in Salah’s absence.
However, Szoboszlai could prove to be the talent that can not only revitalise Jurgen Klopp’s midfield along with Alexis MacAllister but also provide a more than capable backup to Salah.
Last season’s statistics:
When mostly featuring as a right-winger for RB Leipzig last season, the Hungarian made 46 appearances and managed to score 10 goals and assist a further 13.
We have all looked into how Szoboszlai could take Liverpool’s midfield to the next level this season, but now we’re going to look at how the 22-year-old could provide some depth and quality to Klopp’s attacking options.
First of all, we’re going to look at Szoboszlai’s goal and shot-creation statistics from last season for RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga.
- Shot-creating actions per 90- 5.09
- Goal-creating actions per 90- 0.61
- Completed live passes that lead to a goal- 0.41
These stats show that although Szoboszlai won’t be matching the goal-scoring numbers of Mohamed Salah when filling in on the right wing but will definitely provide a creative output in looking to set up the likes of Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez.
This outlook is backed up by the below numbers, which really show the creative ability of the youngster.
- Key passes per 90- 2.38
- Progressive passes per 90- 5.49
Summary:
I definitely believe that Liverpool have fixed two glaring issues within their squad through the purchase of Dominik Szoboszlai.
Although I expect the 22-year-old to link up with Alexis Mac Allister ahead of Fabinho or potentially Romeo Lavia, it definitely wouldn’t be surprised to see Szoboszlai move out wide and create more central space for the likes of Cody Gakpo and Mac Allister to drift into.
The Hungarian definitely has the quality and end product to be efficient out wide and be a quality back-up to Salah if he was to get injured or be away on international duty like in January.
