Last season, there was one player who stood out particularly positively at Liverpool. It was not the giant signings Wirtz and Isak, but the midfield engine Dominik Szoboszlai. There was therefore a sense of horror among the supporters, as Liverpool and the Hungarian went on for months without agreeing on a contract extension, while Real Madrid stood ready to take advantage of the opportunity. On Thursday, Liverpool supporters could breathe a sigh of relief, on Friday there are again questions about how long Liverpool’s most important piece will be at Anfield.
On Thursday, both GiveMeSport and Anfield Watch reported that the Szobo signature is finally in place. Liverpool’s best player last season, and after a steady start at Anfield, he has now developed into one of the best all-round midfielders in Europe. Needless to say, this is a player Iraola must have with him in the build-up of his Liverpool.
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So what’s the problem?
The Hungarian national team coach, Italian Marco Rossi, has been quite candid in his comments that Liverpool’s number 8 is desperate to play for Madrid, while Szoboszlai himself has made no secret of his admiration for Los Blancos and his friendship with Real superstar Vinicius Jr.
While the new contract gives Liverpool some protection against Madrid snapping up another player at the end of his Anfield contract, that doesn’t mean the flirtation with the Spanish giant won’t continue. Rousingthecop compares Szobo’s situation to Coutinho’s.
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“The Brazilian signed a new Liverpool contract in January 2017, after becoming a key player in Jürgen Klopp’s early Reds team. Seven months later, Coutinho was going on strike to force a move to Barcelona, a club he had dreamed of as a child and had made it clear that they were willing to sign him.”
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“Liverpool finally managed to keep Coutinho until the January window, selling him for a whopping £142 million. Had he not signed his new contract a year earlier, the Reds would not have received anything close to that sum. It is obvious that no two situations are the same in football, but if Real, for example, come in hard for Szoboszlai in 12 months’ time, it is not difficult to imagine a scenario where the transfer still happens,” writes the English Liverpool media.
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