Dominic Szoboszlai: Liverpool's Versatile Key Player for the Season
Andoni Iraola is already bracing Liverpool for a season of improvisation – and Dominic Szoboszlai could again find himself at the heart of it, even if that heart is stationed at right-back.
The Hungarian, Liverpool’s reigning player of the year, delivered a standout campaign last season with 25 goal contributions in 53 appearances. Those numbers would be impressive enough for a midfielder in his natural role. They look even more striking when you remember how often he was shunted to right-back to plug gaps.
That experiment may not be over.
Szoboszlai the solution, not the problem
With Conor Bradley sidelined and Jeremie Frimpong exposed defensively in the opening two games, Liverpool’s lack of depth at full-back has already been laid bare. The club tried to move late to address it, making a deadline-day move for a Chelsea defender, only to be quickly rebuffed.
So Iraola is turning back to what he knows works: versatility, and Szoboszlai’s willingness to shoulder responsibility wherever he is asked to play.
“I haven’t found any situation where a player has said he doesn’t want to play in a position,” Iraola said on Thursday, choosing his words carefully but with a clear message. “We have discussions, but everyone wants to help. If we have to play Dom as a right winger, as a right-back or a midfielder, he wants to help the team first.”
That line matters. Szoboszlai is not being dragged to right-back against his will. He is being positioned as a leader, a reference point in a squad stretched early by injuries.
“We have some injuries now, and we need the versatility of the players, players like Dom,” Iraola added. “Even in the game, they have to change positions.”
The implication is obvious: Szoboszlai’s role this season will be defined less by a position on a teamsheet and more by the problems Liverpool need to solve on any given day.
No late splurge, no excuses
Liverpool’s summer business stopped with the £123m arrival of Bradley Barcola, a statement signing in attack but not an answer to their full-back shortage. The club opted against further first-team additions, and Iraola is not hiding behind what they didn’t do.
“I’m very happy with the signings we made,” he said. “Do I want more signings? At the end, the club has decided those signings we have done are the ones that will improve our team.
“There were other options we decided not to take for different reasons, sometimes sporting or economic; the deal didn’t make sense in the market. But I’m happy now.
“We have a lot of quality in the team. The moment is for the players to give it all they have.”
That is as close as you get to a line in the sand. The window is shut, the squad is what it is, and Iraola is making it clear the responsibility has shifted squarely onto the players and his own coaching.
Right-back headache, midfield puzzle
The immediate headache is obvious.
“The challenge in the squad now is we don’t have Conor there at right-back,” Iraola admitted. “That’s why I value Dom at right-back, as he can play there.
“Versatility in the player helps us go through the moments when we have injuries.”
It is not just the back line under scrutiny. The manager knows he has numbers in midfield, but numbers alone do not win games.
“In midfield we have good numbers. Now it’s a matter of getting the right calls from myself.
“I’m finding now the best combinations, and we are going through a period now where we will play a lot of games, and we’ll have a chance to see the options we have and the combinations we have. It’s a matter of coaching.”
That last sentence is telling. No deflection, no talk of bad luck. Iraola is putting the onus on his own decisions, on how quickly he can shape a coherent unit from a group that will be asked to adapt, rotate and cover unfamiliar roles.
Injuries bite early
The sense of being stretched is not theoretical. It is already here.
“With injuries already biting hard at Anfield,” as the manager put it, Liverpool are leaning on “square pegs in round holes” and will continue to do so while they wait for senior players to return.
There is at least some good news on that front.
“The closest one [to playing again] is Joe [Gomez]. He will start training with us next week,” Iraola revealed. “Next one is [Giovanni] Leoni; he could be training during the break with the group. Conor [Bradley] is next, and, especially Hugo, longer.”
Gomez’s return should ease the strain on the back line, and Bradley’s eventual comeback will reshape the conversation around right-back. Until then, Iraola will lean on the players he trusts most to carry extra weight.
Szoboszlai is at the top of that list. Midfield conductor, right winger, auxiliary full-back – his job description keeps expanding. The question now is not whether he can cope with it. It is how far Liverpool can go in a season where their most complete footballer might again spend long stretches defending the flank instead of deciding games further up the pitch.
