Dominik Szoboszlai - The Most Complete Attacking Midfielder I've Seen in Years

Bomo-Thumpin' Szlobo Boss*

(* Ah, 1993!)

I expected Dominik Szoboszlai to be good. I didn't realise he was this good.

With all attention on Jude Bellingham as the poster-boy for all-round midfielders, Szoboszlai also has it all.

In truth, Szoboszlai, 22, reminds me more of Kevin de Bruyne; not peak KdB, perhaps, but surely better than the 22-year-old version of the Belgian, who was sold by Chelsea aged 23. (The Man City man is more of an elite passer, but was he at 22?)

Few players at 22 are 6'2", strongly built, bleep-test monsters, top-percentile sprinters, elite-pressers, and masters with the ball at their feet.

This guy is a literal all-box ticker. No wonder Leipzig didn’t want to lose him for his £60m buyout clause.

While playing in different positions, in some ways he reminds of Virgil van Dijk back in 2018, in that what you got was height, speed, strength, smarts and skill. The full package. These players are super-rare, as usually everyone has one glaring weakness.

(Steven Gerrard was another who had it all; maybe not 10/10 in every category, but no lower than 9/10 in any. I also think Stefan Bajcetic has the potential to be this too, when he fills out; indeed, Gerrard noted to Bellingham that, at 19, Bellingham was already much stronger than he himself was, and that's the route Bajcetic will take. An experienced, beefed-up Bajcetic could be brutally good, just as Gerrard eventually was.)

Szoboszlai was so good against Bournemouth that it was like having an extra man, at a time when the Reds actually had one fewer.

Consistency is the key to greatness, and two games doesn't make for greatness.

But when a player can do all the things I will go on to detail, and does them as soon as joining a new club in a new league, then it bodes incredibly well; especially when the attitude is stellar, too. Liverpool are buying captains and leaders this summer, and Szoboszlai captains Hungary.

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The ZenDen is a quiet space with no commenting – just articles to read. The TTT community remains on the Main Hub, and its where I interact with subscribers, write different articles, and provide post-match analysis.*