How Liverpool could sign an even bigger game-changer than Szoboszlai

Dominik Szoboszlai beamed after a run-around in Nashville at the weekend. Liverpool had just defeated Sunderland 4-2 in a pre-season friendly, and the Hungarian started as he means to go on under Andoni Iraola.

It’s the start of a new era, and there is a nervous sort of excitement in the air. Iraola is proven in the Premier League and his tactics should align with the football fans want to see the Reds play. His rock and roll methods are far away from the dulcet tones of Arne Slot’s measured approach.
AFC Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola salutes their fans after his last match for the club-1

Players will have to adapt, but Szoboszlai is already showing signs of picking up from his exceptional 2025/26 campaign – hopefully he will have a stronger supporting cast around him this time as he cements himself as one of the club’s standout leaders.
Why Szoboszlai is edging toward Liverpool captaincy

This is the end of the road for Virgil van Dijk, whose contract with Liverpool will expire at the end of the season. He will leave a legend, and his departure will open up a vacancy for the captaincy down Anfield.
Virgil-Van-Dijk-Liverpool

Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson left this summer, so Iraola is already determining who to appoint vice-captain for the coming campaign. Szoboszlai will be right in the mix; last term, Salah said he has developed into “one of the best players in the world”.

Iraola must be salivating at having such a robust, physical midfielder at the heart of his developing system. Szoboszlai scored a thumper against Sunderland, producing a focal display for his side.

After such an incredible campaign in tough circumstances, there’s a real sense that the Hungary skipper could kick on and establish himself as one of Europe’s finest players over the coming year, as Salah has already asserted.

It’s remarkable that he was so impressive last year when Slot deployed him across so many positions. He still impressed throughout, steamrolling his teammates in sweeping up the Player of the Season award.

Szoboszlai’s 2025/26 Season at Liverpool by Position

Position

Apps

Goals + Assists

Attacking midfield

16

1 + 4

Central midfield

15

4 + 6

Right winger

11

4 + 1

Right-back

10

3 + 0

Centre-forward

1

1 + 1

Szoboszlai may well become the leader of this group of players down the line, but there’s no guarantee that he will defend his crown as Anfield’s Player of the Year.

DRAFT XI

Spin the wheel. Pick from the full squad. Place them where you want.
Simulate a 38-game season. Can you go unbeaten?
How to play

1Spin the wheel to land on a real club and season
2Browse the full squad and pick any player
3Choose which position slot to put them in
4Fill all 11 slots then simulate 38 games

This should be a revitalised bunch, players fresh and hungry to return to title-winning heights.

The likes of Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz will hope to make good on the nine-digit figures paid to bring them to England last year, but Liverpool could yet sign another big-money attacker to fight for the talismanic role vacated by Salah at the end of 2025/26.
Liverpool’s big money target could surpass Szoboszlai

While Szoboszlai will consolidate his position as a leading man in the Premier League, he isn’t a forward, and Liverpool need someone to replace Salah’s goals, as well as his aura at Anfield.

In that, Liverpool could hit the jackpot on Paris Saint-Germain superstar Bradley Barcola, who has rejected a contract extension and has emerged as Liverpool’s top target this summer.

According to recent reports on the continent, Liverpool have an agreement in principle in place with the Frenchman, who will sign a contract running until 2032, one of the highest-paid players at the club.

PSG want £145m signature, but that is too much for any club in their right mind to pay for a rising star like Barcola, who is not yet the finished article. The 23-year-old wants a chance to become a focal point, though, and Liverpool could give him that chance.

True, Barcola is not a right-winger, instead favouring the left side, but he has the makings of a world-class goalscorer, he has the makings of surpassing Szoboszlai as the biggest difference making in the team. Indeed, over the past calendar year, he has achieved an xG total of 0.50 per 90 minutes, the highest of any winger competing across Europe’s top five leagues.

He might be somewhat wasteful, but at least he is weaving into promising positions with frightening regularity. And for so ‘profligate’ a player, he has still scored 34 goals across two recent campaigns for PSG, winning the Champions League both years.

It bodes well, especially when considering the kind of coach he would be playing under in Iraola, renowned for his success in raising player profiles, in eking out every morsel of quality within a player’s skillset. Antoine Semenyo stands as the testament; Manchester City’s effervescent winger is cut from a similar cloth.

If Barcola does fine-tune his attacking abilities and start scoring with even more consistency, Liverpool may well land themselves a world-class forward, someone who could actually replace Salah, an inconceivable thought when the Egyptian announced he would leave a year before his contract expired. It always felt like it would be an impossible task, but through Barcola, FSG could achieve exactly that.