Liverpool’s reputation for luring players away from their current clubs has taken a blow over recent years.
Although the Reds remain one of the top clubs in the whole of Europe, they have been unable to secure some their biggest targets for several years in a row.
Martin Zubimendi has been speaking publicly after turning Liverpool down this summer. The 25-year-old had been Arne Slot’s only choice to sure up his midfield.
Zubimendi joined an unfortunately long list of players to have decided against a move to Anfield in recent times. Had things been different, all or some of Aurelien Tchouameni, Moises Caicedo, Jude Bellingham and Romeo Lavia could have been Liverpool players.
Thankfully, some did make the smart move to join on with the Reds. One of those was Dominik Szoboszlai, and the Hungarian’s father has now confirmed that Szoboszlai had a couple of other offers on the table.
Dominik Szoboszlai turned down two clubs
After making his big £60m move in 2023, Szoboszlai has had a slightly mixed time of things at Liverpool.
The No.8 was sensational in the early part of his time with the Reds, but faded off badly towards the end of his debut season.
With question marks starting to be asked of him, though, Szoboszlai has turned up brilliantly during the first few games of this term.
The 23-year-old’s performances have underlined just what a talent he is. And speaking to The Athletic about his son, Szoboszlai’s father Zsolt has confirmed that Liverpool did have competition for Dom last year.
READ MORE: Arne Slot says he has deliberately changed Dominik Szoboszlai’s position this season
“He built up in stages, from Salzburg to Leipzig to Liverpool,” says Szoboszlai senior.
“We talked about the move to England together. There was an Italian team and another English team.
“But we decided on Liverpool — a club with great history and tradition, who could keep Dominik heading in the right direction. He can achieve whatever he wants to achieve.”
Much more to come from Dominik Szoboszlai
After the way he started last season, Liverpool supporters are fully aware of just how good Szoboszlai can be.
However, it’s fair to say that we haven’t quite seen enough of that over recent times.
Having started the season so well, there looks to be a strong chance that Szoboszlai will send a reminder or two about the player he can become.
Former France defender Frank Lebeouf described the Liverpool midfield as a ‘masterpiece‘ after Sunday’s 3-0 win over Manchester United and Szoboszlai has been a big part of that.
Continue in the same vein, and Liverpool fans will be breathing a sigh of relief that the former RB Leipzig man chose them over whatever else was on offer.
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