Liverpool were dealt a huge injury blow yesterday with the announcement of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s injury. The Liverpool right-back is expected to now miss several weeks which will leave Jurgen Klopp with a bit of a problem to solve.
The natural solution would be to use Joe Gomez as cover. However, Gomez is preoccupied covering the let-back role at the moment with injuries there to both Kostas Tsimikas and Andy Robertson.
Conor Bradley is another option. He’s impressed recently against Arsenal in a brief cameo and he’s got exciting potential. However, at times he will be raw as he is still very much learning on the job at the moment.
Another more wildcard option could be a surprising candidate.
Dominik Szoboszlai – Alexander-Arnold’s replacement?
Dominik Szoboszlai was signed for £60m in the summer as per GOAL to fill a midfield void. However, the Hungarian could now be useful for his versatility.
Many have pointed out that Szoboszlai often played as a winger at RB Leipzig. However, what few have noticed is that he also had experience playing as a right-back.
Under Domenico Tedesco, Szoboszlai had a few stints in that role. Back in 2021, he played cover there in a game against Mainz. Meanwhile, a year later in the DFB Pokal against Teutonia 05 – he started the game and played all of it as a right-back registering two assists in the process.
So impressive was his performance that his teammate Benjamin Henrichs likened Szoboszlai to Dani Alves in a comment under the Hungarian’s Instagram post at the time.
He was then also used as a right wing-back in Domenico Tedesco’s final Bundesliga game against Eintracht Frankfurt as well. But after that, Tedesco was fired by Leipzig and the experiment stopped.
However, now at Liverpool – Jurgen Klopp could be tempted to continue Tedesco’s tinkering with Szoboszlai expected to be back fit for Liverpool’s next Premier League game.
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