Dominik Szoboszlai has turned a season of Liverpool regression into his own argument for player of the year. The 25-year-old has 13 goals and 12 assists in 53 matches, and he has done it while filling a long list of jobs for Arne Slot’s side.
That is why Szoboszlai is being searched now. Liverpool have had a difficult 2025-26, but he has been the player who kept producing as the rest of the team moved unevenly around him. Mohamed Salah said in an interview that he is “one of the best players in the world right now,” a line that fits the way Szoboszlai has moved from promising signing to the clearest contender for Liverpool’s player of the season.
The numbers back up the praise. Szoboszlai had already reached eight goals and nine assists in 49 appearances last season, a good return that still left room for improvement. Slot wanted more from him. This season he has delivered it, with 13 goals and 12 assists, plus a set-piece record that has become part of his value. He scored spectacular free kicks against Marseille, AFC Bournemouth and Manchester City, then added a 30-yard strike in a 1-0 win over Arsenal that was described as Liverpool’s goal of the season.
He has also done the work that does not always show up in highlight reels. The season began with Szoboszlai in a double pivot because Ryan Gravenberch was suspended, with Florian Wirtz operating at No 10. When injury problems hit right-back, Szoboszlai was pushed there for Liverpool’s second league game against Newcastle. Later, after nine defeats in 12 matches, Slot moved him to the right of midfield to restore defensive stability. In each version of the team, he kept doing enough to matter.
That versatility is part of the reason his season stands out, but it is also the friction point. Liverpool’s structure shifted again and again, and Szoboszlai became more indispensable every time it did. He began the year as a flexible answer to suspension and injury, then ended it as the player the team leaned on most when the form dipped and the system changed around him.
His February run underlined the point. After Liverpool’s 3-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion in the FA Cup, Szoboszlai had scored his fifth goal in eight matches, a burst that showed he was not only filling gaps but driving results. By March, when he celebrated after scoring against Tottenham, the case for him as Liverpool’s standout of 2025-26 was already hard to argue against. The unresolved question is whether Slot keeps asking him to do all of this if Liverpool change shape again next season, or whether Szoboszlai’s best role is still the one the team has not had time to settle on.
