There was certainly a tinge of frustration in seeing Liverpool snap up a player who I have followed for the best part of five years. Dominik Szoboszlai caught my attention at the nebula of talent that is Red Bull Salzburg.
Another player in a long line to pass through the Austrian side, develop and make the switch to the European elite like Sadio Mane and Erling Haaland before him. Arsenal’s interest in the player stretches back to 2020 and specifically the build-up to the 2021 January window.
I interviewed Szoboszlai in the summer of 2021 after his switch to RB Leipzig the previous January where the Bundesliga side beat Arsenal to his signature. He was always ambitious said said: “To be able to compete on the highest level of football makes you stronger.”
Certainly, Liverpool have got themselves a serious player in the Hungarian but did Arsenal themselves miss out? Kai Havertz was signed as the club’s offensive option to reinforce the existing squad.
The German international is being touted as someone who will partner Martin Odegaard in the midfield and indeed his new manager is looking at him not so much as a forward it seems. Upon his announcement, Mikel Arteta said: "He has great versatility and is an intelligent player. He will bring a huge amount of extra strength to our midfield and variety to our play.”
Szoboszlai is best played as a wide ten of sorts. He’s an attacking player who can play in the wide areas but certainly is not a winger.
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He likes to, when in possession, take the ball inside or when out of it make runs into dangerous areas. Think in the style of Emile Smith Rowe and the spaces he took up when Arteta deployed him on the left.
Where would he fit in this Arsenal team? Well, he wouldn’t be best used if he, like Havertz, is seen as the player to partner Odegaard.
Perhaps as a replacement for Odegaard if the role became something of a more natural number ten than the eight/ten role that the Norwegian currently occupies. Szoboszlai certainly wouldn’t be getting in ahead of Bukayo Saka or Gabriel Martinelli in the wide areas.
Where there is an immediate and obvious pathway for Havertz, that does not exist for the Hungarian at Arsenal. It is highly likely why the Gunners did not revive their interest in a player whose €70million (£60.2million) release clause had to be activated to get him.
A similar price tag to Havertz is sure to see the pair compared although they’re stylistically and positionally different, yet it remains inevitable. For Liverpool, I have questions about where he fits in the current system unless Jurgen Klopp is planning a change.
For me, he’d be best deployed off the left-hand side, with potentially Cody Gakpo moving more centrally. But even then he’s in competition with Luis Diaz for a place in the team.
Perhaps the Reds will switch to something of a 4-2-3-1 with a natural number ten but then the box-to-box role of Alexis Mac Allister doesn’t necessarily fit this formation in the best way. Alternatively, Szoboszlai could be transitioned to play in a pair with Mac Allister but I have question marks whether this would either restrict Szoboszlai’s talents or leave the Liverpool midfield too exposed which was a major problem last season.
Ultimately it’s impossible to be conclusive until we see how both Havertz and Szoboszlai perform this season. Although there’s always the context of their environments to consider, had that not been considered for the German, perhaps Arsenal wouldn’t have even signed him from the nightmare he experienced in west London.
