Jürgen Klopp on Szoboszlai’s Anfield Debut and Growing Influence

Photo by George Wood/Getty Images

Dominik Szoboszlai has been Liverpool’s standout over the first two weeks of the 2023-24 season.

It may only be a small sample size so far, but over the first two games of Liverpool’s 2023-24 season there has been a clear standout on the pitch for Jürgen Klopp’s retooling Reds, and that standout has been new midfield signing Dominik Szoboszlai.

The 22-year-old Hungarian has looked the best player on the pitch for long stretches against Chelsea in the opener and then Bournemouth in the first game of the season at Anfield, and the manager was clearly pleased by his outing following the 3-1 victory.

“The away one was not too bad either, to be honest,” Klopp said of Szoboszlai’s Anfield debut a week after impressing in his Liverpool debut. “We had to hold him back a little bit when he was part of the double six and running everywhere.

“But the performance level he’s shown since coming here is really, really good, to be honest, involved in the third goal, obviously super-important. Yeah, it was a good one. Macca’s home debut was as impressive, too, just not as long, that was the problem.”

Fellow new arrival Alexis Mac Allister had a less flashy but also highly effective afternoon, at least until receiving a controversial red card that few watching the game—Liverpool fans or neutrals and pundits—thought was worth more than a yellow.

For Szoboszlai, though, the afternoon was filled with positives, and even when Klopp had to hold him back as part of a double six following Mac Allister’s sending off, the player—who mainly played as a forward for RB Leipzig last season—impressed.

While most agreed Liverpool had one of Europe’s top young talents when they signed him this summer, there were questions about how long it might take him to adjust to a deeper midfield role. On the evidence, any adjustment period is already over.