Rumor Mongering: Dominik Szoboszlai Prefers Liverpool Over Newcastle

Dominik Szoboszlai has burst onto the rumor mill scene in recent days, popping up as a (pleasant) surprise transfer target for a Liverpool side amidst a midfield rebuild.

While the likes of Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Manu Kone and Bayern Munich’s Ryan Gravenberch amongst many others have spent links being consistently linked to Anfield, it is another Bundesliga star in RB Leipzig’s Szoboszlai who is now considered to be “high in Liverpool’s thinking” and top of the midfield wish list, as reported by The Athletic’s David Ornstein.

Adding to the excitement for Reds supporters, it has since emerged from local reporter Guido Schafer, chief reporter of the Leipziger Volkszeitung, that the 22-year-old attacking midfielder—in fact—prefers a move to Anfield over other suitors, including oil-rich Newcastle.

“If he can choose between the Champions League with Newcastle and the Europa and Jurgen Klopp, he will choose Klopp and the Europa League,” Schafer said speaking to the Anfield Wrap.

“This is an outstanding club and the best manager in the world, and for me it’s very true that Szoboszlai wants to go to Liverpool—not to Newcastle, not to Manchester City.”

However, as also noted by Ornstein, Schafer flagged a “financial problem” holding up an agreement between Liverpool and Leipzig, presumably in reference to the €70m (£60.5m) release clause rumored to be in Szoboszlai’s current contract. Complicating matters further is that this release clause is also rumored have an expiration date, possibly as soon as end of business today (June 30th), although the exact date is not publicly known.

Despite what would be a significant outlay ahead of a season without Champions League-bolstered finances, a talent like Szoboszlai would arguably leap ahead of any of the other names linked to Liverpool on a hypothetical team sheet.

Having notched 10 goals and 13 assists in 48 games across all competitions last season for Red Bull, the silky smooth attacker grades out as one of the top ball progressors and chance creators in Europe’s big five leagues.

The 32-times capped Hungary international captain would immediately slot into the right-sided attacking midfield role in the 3-box-3 formation Liverpool ended the campaign using, having thrived at Leipzig as a traditional number 10, as well as out on the right wing.

This would be a dream signing for Liverpool and Reds supporters will hope this gets done sooner rather than later.

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