Why Szoboszlai will be delighted if Liverpool seal £100m midfield signing

Whether Liverpool challenge for the Premier League title next season depends on a number of factors, many of which will be determined by the Reds’ success in the summer transfer window.

Expenditure does not equate to success in the modern market, as Arne Slot and co found out last year, with Liverpool spending a record-breaking sum, surpassing £400m, on flashy new players after winning the league title.

Additions are needed in midfield and in attack, but stepping away from the rumour mill for a moment, the success in tying Dominik Szoboszlai down to a new long-term contract must feel as euphoric as a big-money buy.

Why Szoboszlai’s new Liverpool contract is as good as a signing

When the pearly gates swing open each summer, a kind of frenzy grips football’s corner of social media, with fans clamouring for flashy new signings.

Liverpool are no different, and while, for example, Bradley Barcola remains a top target for the Anfield side, Szoboszlai’s new contract could actually be an even more emphatic success at the start of the Iraola era.

Last season, Szoboszlai’s first-class form was the difference between disappointment and disaster for the Reds, named Player of the Year in a whitewash, head and shoulders above his teammates, scoring great goals, leading and influencing, featuring across any number of positions.

Liverpool need to sign a midfielder or two this summer, especially as Curtis Jones continues to be linked with a transfer to Inter Milan, but Szoboszlai will now continue to thrive as the club’s talisman, hopefully improving once deployed in a streamlined role in the middle of the park.

Should the Reds hope to challenge for the Premier League title next term, they will need Szoboszlai on his A-game once again, but the Hungary captain’s life will be made considerably easier with more robust options around him, feeding into Andoni Iraola‘s new system.

Liverpool make dream Szoboszlai partner their top target

Szoboszlai is a fantastic all-action midfielder, but he’s not an out-and-out playmaker, and that’s a position that Liverpool could do with strengthening this summer.

FSG have just the man in mind. According to Football Transfers, Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton has emerged as Liverpool’s top target, having cooled interest in Joao Gomes before the Brazilian’s proposed transfer from Wolves to Aston Villa.

Multi-club interest in Wharton has cooled since the end of the season, curiously coinciding with the Three Lions’ World Cup campaign across which the 23-year-old played no part.

Football Transfers assert that Palace want at least £100m for their star player, citing various other midfield moves being made right now. It would be a lot of money – and FSG will try and whittle it down – but the Reds would secure the perfect profile in the engine room to partner Szoboszlai and co in Iraola’s system.

A pure passer, Wharton has a rare ability to unlock a backline with his ball-playing weaponry. He would add a dimension to Iraola’s system, which at Bournemouth was reliant on sharp transitional cogs in midfield, whirring play forward.

Described as a “cheat code” by analyst Ben Mattinson for his range of passing, there is something Xabi Alonso-esque about the England international, so silky and measured in knocking the ball forward, weighting his passes perfectly, always considering the shrewd and intelligent option.

He would be the perfect counterweight for Szoboszlai, who has drawn wide praise for his Steven Gerrard-like performances at Liverpool over the past year. This would provide Liverpool’s new coach with the sort of fluency, a blend of physicality and control, that could win them titles.

Wharton might cost a pretty penny, but the midfield market is in overdrive right now, and he would instil the qualities needed to launch Liverpool back into title contention.