da brdice： The Reds confirmed the signing of the RB Leipzig playmaker on Sunday as they continue to overhaul their midfield over the summer

da bwin： Liverpool's summer planning started off on a rather dour note. For some time, the Reds faithful had been holding onto the hope that Jude Bellingham would be parachuted in during the transfer window to reinvigorate their disintegrating midfield.

That dream was dashed in April, when GOAL revealed that Liverpool were going to pursue alternative transfer targets. In the weeks that have followed, the Reds have spent the Bellingham money elsewhere.

First, they splashed out £35 million ($44.3m) on Brighton star and World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister – a move that has been widely praised as a terrific piece of business. This strong start has been followed up by another interesting deal, with Dominik Szoboszlai's arrival from RB Leipzig being confirmed on Sunday evening.

The Hungary international cost Liverpool significantly more than that, with the deal totalling €70m (£60.1m/$76.1m), but a similar level of excitement has greeted his arrival, and so GOAL takes a closer look at what exactly he will be bringing to Anfield…

Getty ImagesA midfielder or a forward?

Szoboszlai is a shapeshifter. As such, nailing down his 'strongest' position is a difficult task. Right from the moment he joined Red Bull Salzburg – and even before that – Szoboszlai has been used in a string of different positions for club and country.

For the most part, this trend has continued since his move to Leipzig in 2021. During his first season in Germany, he played just over 1,500 minutes in the Bundesliga, with 32 percent of those coming as a left forward and 28% coming as a centre midfielder. He was also used as a striker and right forward during the same campaign.

For the first time in his club career, Szoboszlai seemed to find a permanent home on the pitch last season. In just under 2,500 league minutes – only defender Willi Orban registered more – he spent the vast majority of his time (77%) operating as a right-sided attacking midfielder in Marco Rose's 4-2-2-2, only sporadically appearing on the opposite flank.

For Hungary, it was a different story, with Szoboszlai being used as a left-sided advanced midfielder in a 3-4-3. To possess such an extreme level of versatility at such a tender age speaks to his maturity and tactical intelligence.

AdvertisementAn eye for the spectacular

On occasion it has felt that the size of Szoboszlai's footballing brain has been underappreciated. This is partly self-inflicted, as the first thing that comes to mind with the 22 year old is his box-office, long-range shooting – a far more headline-grabbing trait than the ability to play in multiple positions.

Szoboszlai's technique when striking the ball from range is quite extraordinary. Like an Olympic sprinter, there's no wasted movement. He simply cocks his leg back ever so slightly and fizzes it through the ball.

This makes it frighteningly hard to predict when he's going to unleash his latest thunderbolt – as Borussia Dortmund discovered to their peril back in October. Having already assisted Orban for the opener, Szoboszlai was afforded a little too much space outside the box on the stroke of half-time and took full advantage.

Without overtly signalling his intentions, the Leipzig No.17 unleashed a swerving effort into the top corner to make it 2-0. It was the latest installment in an ever-growing highlight reel of 30-yard screamers, with the angles that he can squeeze shots in from consistently defying logic.

Don't be surprised to see Szoboszlai capture the Premier League Goal of the Season prize in 2023-24…

Getty ImagesFighting with Trent over set-pieces

Szoboszlai's penchant for the audacious extends to his set-piece taking too. According to he has scored eight direct free-kicks during his club career so far, as well as a further three for his country and plenty more at youth level.

His success in this field in born out of a childhood obsession. In a recent interview with Szoboszlai confessed to taking about 200 free-kicks every day in his younger years, eventually discovering the ideal technique for himself without any external interference.

These methods may have been demanding, but he is reaping the rewards in the present day. What is so impressive about Szoboszlai''s dead-ball delivery is his variation. Like a top-class bowler keeping a tail-end batsman in a state of fear, the pace, curve and placement of his efforts can be wildly different, making it difficult for goalkeepers to prepare to face him.

Szoboszlai is also an accomplished penalty taker, although interestingly, unlike his free-kicks, these are consistent. He almost always aims for the bottom left corner and he almost always finds it, missing just one spot kick during his career thus far.

His set-pieces can be a potent creative weapon too, with that ability to vary his deliveries coming into play when he's taking corners. It will be interesting to see how free-kicks, corners and penalties are distributed this season at Anfield, with Szoboszlai adding to the Reds' already fearsome group of dead-ball specialists.

FBref King of the Hollywood pass

While Szoboszlai is among the world's best set-piece takers, his creativity does not solely stem from his dead-ball threat. In fact, last season no Bundesliga player averaged more shot-creating actions (the two offensive actions leading to a shot, such as passes and take-ons) per 90 minutes. You don't achieve that by solely taking corners and free-kicks.

Extrapolate those statistics out to the rest of Europe and Szoboszlai stacks up very favourably indeed. Only nine players in the continent's top five leagues registered better SCA per 90 minutes numbers last season, with Lionel Messi, Kevin De Bruyne and Bruno Fernandes among the group that beat him. And just like with his goal-scoring, Szoboszlai is a fan of assisting his team-mates in some style.

He set the tone for this Hollywood passing early in his Bundesliga career. Indeed, his maiden assist in the league should have been an ingenious, driven free-kick. However, Mohamed Simakan just failed to make contact with a glancing header – so it went down as a Szoboszlai goal instead.

He'd deliver an even better assist in a 4-1 win against Greuther Furth a few weeks later. There was something De Bruyne-esque about the way he weighted his outside-the-foot pass to the back post perfectly, allowing Hugo Novoa to slide home unopposed and put the result beyond all doubt.