Ex-Manchester United defender Jaap Stam believes that Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai should be in contention when the end-of-season Premier League individual awards are handed out.
The now-dethroned champions have had a miserable campaign, with their title defence realistically ended as early as November, but the Hungarian has been a rare consistent positive at Anfield over the last few months.
It’s a sign of the standards that the 25-year-old has maintained in comparison to his teammates that he’s won LFC’s Player of the Month award five times this season, a feat matched only by Mo Salah and Philippe Coutinho since 2011.
Bruno Fernandes was named as the men’s Footballer of the Year by the Football Writers’ Association last week, although Stam felt that Liverpool’s number 8 would’ve been a worthy contender for the prize.
The Dutchman told ComeOn (via Liverpool Echo): “I understand Gabriel being talked about as the Player of the Season, his defending and goalscoring and his role at Arsenal, but for me it should be Bruno Fernandes, and not [just] because he plays for United.
“I think another player who could be up there is Dominik Szoboszlai from Liverpool. I’m not sure if they talk about him for this award.”
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While Reds fans would surely bristle at Stam advocating Fernandes for the Player of the Season prize (though even we’d have to admit that the Portugal international has had a fine campaign), they’d nod in approval at the Dutchman’s praise for Szoboszlai.
Opta figures show that, prior to last weekend, only the Man United captain has created more chances in the current Premier League campaign than the Liverpool midfielder’s 65, with the Hungarian exceeding the likes of Declan Rice, Enzo Fernandez and Rayan Cherki in that regard (BBC Sport).
Gary Neville flippantly threw out an estimated valuation of ‘£60m-£70m‘ for the Reds’ number 8 last month, but considering that we signed him for £60m three years ago and his stock has risen substantially in that time, his true market value is surely a lot higher.
With 13 goals and 10 assists, Szoboszlai has the joint-most goal contributions of anyone at Anfield this season (alongside Hugo Ekitike, with 17 and six respectively), and hitting double figures on both counts illustrates his importance as a scorer as well as a creator of goals for LFC.
The Hungary captain probably won’t make into the PFA Premier League Team of the Year given how poor Liverpool have been in this campaign, but we’d go along with Stam’s assertion that, at a minimum, he deserves to be in contention for such individual recognition for his performances this term.
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