Arne Slot agrees with Mo Salah on Liverpool star who is now simply world class

Arne Slot believes that Dominik Szoboszlai has developed into one of the best players in the world during his talismanic Liverpool season.

The midfielder scored his 10th goal of the 2025-26 campaign in the Reds’ 3-0 FA Cup victory over Brighton & Hove Albion at Anfield. Szoboszlai, returning from a one-match suspension, netted Liverpool’s second when rounding off a sweeping move.

The Hungary international, who has also recorded seven assists, has made marked improvements this term. Not only has he delivered in the final third but he’s operated in several positions, including right-back.

After the Brighton win, Mo Salah hailed Szoboszlai as world class - which Liverpool head coach Slot agreed with. He said: “I think there are a lot of very good to elite football players in the world, but I definitely agree with Mo that Dominik is one of them.”

Szoboszlai is in his third season at Liverpool after signing from RB Leipzig for £60 million in 2023. His Anfield career has been on an upward trajectory and answered Slot’s challenge for more goals.

And the Reds boss believes that Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike will follow in Szoboszlai’s footsteps and only continue to improve as they acclimatise to the Premier League.

“When I said that [a Liverpool midfielder needing to score goals] I maybe had to add that you need to be able to run a lot if you play in the midfield of Liverpool,” said Slot. “But I think what I meant was as a No.10 you also need to produce goals.

“Now he hasn't always played in the No.10 position but he is producing more and more goals. I think Dominik is a great example of the model we are using here at this club. We sign young players from another league – in this situation that was Leipzig, where he was already known for being a player that was really physical. But I think it's fair for me to say that the player that we brought in was already good but where he is now, I think [he is] much better than where he was two-and-a-half years ago.

“That is what you get if you sign young players and you give them a bit of time and you let them play a lot. That's why I also think that that trajectory he's been through is the same trajectory we can expect from other young players we have that we've signed from other leagues.

“You can already see their progress but I've said many times that next season or at the end of this season or in two seasons, players like Hugo [Ekitike] and Florian [Wirtz] – because these are the two that come from the Bundesliga – will be even better next year than they are already now, because they are all already very good players for us.”