Carragher names Liverpool player he’s not won over by, Arne Slot loves him
Jamie Carragher admits he’s not the “biggest fan” of Liverpool talisman Dominik Szoboszlai in comparison with Lucas Paqueta.
The Reds faithful have been loving the Hungarian’s performances this season, with Troy Deeney in awe of his “excellent” display in the 2-0 win against Brentford on 25 January.
However, despite Arne Slot describing Szoboszlai as “very important” to this Liverpool side (Daily Mirror, 4 February), Carragher is not convinced and said on The Overlap (4 February, 33:40) he believes West Ham United ace Paqueta is a better technical attacking midfielder.
He said: “I think of Liverpool because I’m not Szoboszlai’s biggest fan but he’s got great athleticism. He gets talked about as our No 10 and people say he’s great off the ball, but I’m thinking: ‘He’s the No 10, he’s scored three goals’.
“And I know he does a great job for the team but Slot would probably still prefer Szoboszlai than Paqueta.”
Dominik Szoboszlai can thrive at Liverpool
Indeed, Szoboszlai’s form fell off a cliff towards the business end of last season after a phenomenal start to life at Anfield.
The Hungarian captain bought well into Jurgen Klopp’s high-intensity style of football before a midseason injury hampered his progress – he returned to the first team fold a shadow of his former self.
And he has shown similar glimpses of his underwhelming form at times this season under Slot, but recently has returned to the performances shown at RB Leipzig to justify his £60million move to the Reds.
He ran the show during the 6-3 romp of Tottenham on 22 December, as he played a role in four of the goals in North London.
His return of four goals and five assists in 30 appearances across all competitions leaves a lot to be desired, but he is undoubtedly thriving in his more advanced role in the side.
It will only be a matter of time before Szoboszlai is putting up double-digit returns for Liverpool, and at 24, he still has plenty of time to develop into the elite-level talent the supporters expect him to be.
He may not be as prolific as Paqueta, but there is a reason one is angling for a return to Brazil from West Ham United, and the other is proving indispensable to Slot.
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