Dominik Szoboszlai reveals favourite position & discusses winning lactate test
New £60m Liverpool signing Dominik Szoboszlai has revealed his preferred position, as well as giving some insight into his performance in the dreaded lactate test.
Throughout Liverpool’s 4-2 friendly victory over Karlsrucher SC on Wednesday, eyes were firmly stuck on Jurgen Klopp’s two summer singings. While much is already known about Alexis Mac Allister from his time at Brighton & Hove Albion and in Argentina’s World Cup win, many Liverpool supporters are less familiar with Szoboszlai, who made the move from RB Leipzig this month.
Wednesday’s 45-minute cameo gave a first look at the 22-year-old, who has played in a number of positions in Germany. The Reds new number eight showed his versatility at the BBBank Wildpark stadium, picking the ball up all over the midfield for the Reds.
“I want to be on the pitch!” laughed Szoboszlai when asked on his favourite position by journalists after the match. “But yeah, number eight, number 10, if I have to slide back a little bit to take the ball as a number six, no problem, but I want to be more towards the goal. But yeah, box-to-box I would say.
“I enjoyed the game a lot. I felt really good, in good condition with good players, in an unbelievable stadium. It was a good first one."
Besides his on-field performance, Liverpool fans were impressed by Szoboszlai's display in the pre-season lactate test — which measures aerobic endurance – as shown on the club's channels earlier in the month.
Following the departure of veteran James Milner this summer, a new lactate test winner was crowned in Mohamed Salah, but Szoboszlai wasn’t too far behind and seemed to relish the famously gruelling exercise.
“In my group I won it, but Mo (Salah) and Hendo were ahead of me in the other groups,” Szoboszlai said. “But I’m ready.
“The players have been really welcoming, really nice. I feel as if I was here already, even though I only knew Ibou (Konate, from their time at Leipzig). Everybody has been really kind to me, nice and helped a lot when I had questions."
Liverpool will carry on their training camp in Donaueschingen until its conclusion on Monday with a behind-closed-doors friendly against Greuther Furth, and Szoboszlai is loving the challenge.
“It was not easy,” Szoboszlai said on the pre-season work. “I came from a really good team in Leipzig, but still the pre-season is hard everywhere. Especially, I never had three training sessions a day before in my life!"
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