Before a ball had been kicked this season, 30 BBC Sport pundits were asked to jot down their Premier League pre-season title predictions. Not one pundit picked Liverpool as champions.
In fact, only two pundits – Stephen Warnock and Fara Williams – had the Reds in their top two, for Jurgen Klopp had left, and in his place was Arne Slot, former Feyenoord boss and relative unknown.
Rivals rejoiced, because Klopp was gone, and with him a legacy that would not easily be mimicked. Liverpool, you see, had fallen by the wayside under Brendan Rodgers and looked headed for more interminable years in the background of Europe’s biggest scene.
Well, here we are. The 2024/25 campaign has reached March and Liverpool find themselves in top spot, some 13 points clear at the top of the ladder, with Arsenal depleted and Manchester City all but deposed, startlingly below their usual lofty standards.
Liverpool have been immense. Mohamed Salah is a shoo-in for the Player of the Year awards at this point, but Liverpool are certainly not a one-man outfit.
Liverpool's best players in 24/25
In case you hadn’t heard, Salah’s doing rather well this season, scoring 30 goals and supplying 22 assists for his teammates across 38 matches. Three months of the season remain, by the way.
In defence, Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate have been impregnable at times. No team in the Premier League has kept more clean sheets than Liverpool’s 12.
The midfield has been the lifeforce, with Klopp’s 2023 summer rebuild paying dividends this season. Alexis Mac Allister’s mischievous and battling personality has seen him go as one of the unsung heroes of the campaign. But still, he’s very much integral.
Ryan Gravenberch’s rise from the murkly waters of untapped potential has been the glue which has kept Slot’s vision together. After efforts to sign Martin Zubimendi failed last summer, the silky and mobile midfielder was identified as an internal solution, pushed into a more disciplined and deeper central role. He’s been a revelation.
Then there’s Dominik Szoboszlai, who has been playing out of his skin in recent times and is now looking at the prized number ten position in English football.
Slot has hit the jackpot on Dominik Szoboszlai
This is Szoboszlai’s second season in Red, having left RB Leipzig for Merseyside in a deal worth £60m in 2023.
He had his ups and downs last term but has gone from strength to strength in Slot’s system, with his performances over the past few months leading content creator Asim Mahmood to describe him as an “absolute monster” and a “champion performer.”
Hailed as an “absolute engine” by journalist Bence Bocsak, the Hungary skipper is uncontainable at times, running at full throttle amid a forest of tired legs in late stages. He just doesn’t stop churning.
And now, with greater clinical output in the final third, Szoboszlai is being compared to a name that holds some weight at Liverpool: Jude Bellingham.
Bellingham was heavily linked with a move to Liverpool when he played for Borussia Dortmund, before the Reds opted out and focused on a more evenly spread central overhaul.
The Three Lions superstar, 21, might be one of the best players in the world but it’s hard to argue against FSG’s logic, with Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Szoboszlai and Wataru Endo all playing important roles.
And according to FBref, Szoboszlai’s form has actually put him in the same bracket as Bellingham, who is one of the deadliest midfielders in the game but also works with an indefatigable drive.
Goals
0.24
0.33
Assists
0.15
0.36
Shot-creating actions
4.45
3.41
Touches
63.92
67.02
Pass completion
83.7%
87.9%
Prog. passes
5.30
6.74
Prog. carries
2.82
2.65
Successful take-ons
0.83
1.65
Ball recoveries
5.36
3.72
Both looking to get on the ball whenever they can and influence play, Szoboszlai’s energy outstrips his Los Blancos rival’s, though Bellingham does boast the superiority in goal involvements.
Szoboszlai can also defend when needed. Liverpool put themselves in an almost uncatchable position when beating Newcastle in the Premier League on Wednesday, and while the 23-year-old got his name on the scoresheet after bagging at the Etihad last weekend, he also won eight of his ten contested duels and made five tackles, as per Sofascore, further illustrating his complete nature.
Only one month ago, Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher said he wasn’t “Szoboszlai’s biggest fan,” acknowledging the player’s energy but raising questions over his clinical output.
This is fair enough. After 81 Liverpool appearances since signing, Szoboszlai has scored 14 goals and provided ten assists for his teammates, marking a goal contribution rate of 0.30 per game.
In the same timeframe since joining Real Madrid, Bellingham has clinched 58 goal involvements from 78 matches, a rate of 0.74 per fixture.
There’s a reason he’s regarded as “one of the best midfield talents in the world” by his colleague David Alaba, with CIES Football Observatory, the world’s leading platform in statistical football studies, recording that the £331k-per-week talent is currently valued at about £225m on the modern market.
This is staggering, and not a figure that Szoboszlai is likely to reach during his career. No shame in that, Dom.
However, it does act as a barometer of sorts that can determine the quality of player that Liverpool have on their hands. Quite simply, Liverpool’s robust and athletic number ten is proving himself to have the wide-ranging arsenal to inflict damage on opponents, control matches through technical distinction and indeed get stuck in
He has the full gamut, just like Bellingham. Liverpool have their own version of the English sensation, and they also have a dynamic midfield comprised of important parts.
FSG won’t rue their decision to look elsewhere back in 2023.
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