As Liverpool’s most advanced midfielder last season, Dominik Szoboszlai‘s place could come under threat from Florian Wirtz, though the Hungarian is ‘not afraid’ of the competition.
While none of us know exactly how Liverpool will line up under Arne Slot next season, adding an extra body into the attacking midfield rotation will inevitably create more competition for places.
At times last year, Szoboszlai was swapped out for Curtis Jones, and the Hungarian could now have Wirtz vying for his place in the team.
Szoboszlai’s agent, Matyas Esterhazy, was asked by M4 Sport what he thinks about “the fact that negative commentators started to sound the alarm bells” upon Wirtz’s arrival.
In response, the agent said: “I am neither afraid of this question nor interested in it.
“Dominik has been in an environment where competition is the norm since he was 16. I have never seen a Premier League-winning club that does not want to develop, that does not want to sign top players.
“I am sure that the two of them will be together on the pitch in some form.
“Of course, I do not have to put the team together, one of the best coaches in the world is sitting on the Liverpool bench, he has much more information than I do.
“I trust that Dominik will jump this step and will be increasingly successful with the constantly developing team.”
While there is a chance Szoboszlai sees less game time in major fixtures this time around, it may not be the case that Wirtz is a direct replacement in the starting XI.
We are likely to see Slot’s setup evolve this campaign.
With the arrival of flying full-backs Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong, Liverpool could begin to form a back three more often when in possession, using a double pivot in midfield instead of a trio.
It has also been reported that Slot intends to use Wirtz as a No. 10, which would indicate that he would play further up the pitch, rather than as one of the two box-to-box midfielders.
At times during the final games of last season, we saw Szoboszlai drop deep to pick the ball up, a far cry from his role as the third-man runner in attacks earlier in the campaign.
This could be a pattern we see more of from August as Wirtz plays his football from the left or higher up the pitch, with Szoboszlai being an instigator from deep rather than an advanced figure.
Szoboszlai’s agent was asked how he sees his client’s place at Liverpool, to which he replied: “I haven’t thought about Dominik’s career for quite some time.
“He has reached the point where he was a decisive member of the team that won the Premier League. The club is working on very significant developments, they want to be more and more successful.
“To be a part of that is fantastic.”
