NewsDominik Szoboszlai: I have big goals - and work doesn't stop here

Now in his second season with the Reds, the Hungary captain has started eight times in 2024-25 as Arne Slot’s side have registered nine wins from their 10 games.

A Carabao Cup winner during his maiden campaign at Anfield under Jürgen Klopp, the No.8 is determined to keep aiming for the highest honours with the club – and knows hard yards are required to get there.

Asked about how his objectives have developed during his career, Szoboszlai told Men in Blazers during a recent interview: “I want to win the Champions League. When I was a kid, first I wanted to hear the anthem on the field, then I wanted to score.

“Then I wanted to be a national-team player, then I wanted to be a captain of the national team. I did all of them.

“Now, as I’m playing in the Premier League of course I want to win the Premier League with Liverpool. And I want to win the Champions League as well. So, I have big goals but I put goals to myself that are realistic.”

After starting out in the game in his home country, Szoboszlai moved to Austria and began to build his reputation while representing Red Bull Salzburg.

He later switched to RB Leipzig and he would spend two-and-a-half years in Germany, before arriving at the Reds in the summer of 2023.

When subsequently quizzed on the retrospective advice he would give to a childhood Szoboszlai with a view to achieving his dream of becoming a professional, the midfielder continued: “It’s not only the stuff you are doing on the field.

“The hardest thing is mentally, the hardest thing is to leave your parents and your friends when you were 14; to live alone, to be there in another country without knowing the language. That’s the hardest part.

“And also of course next to it, the training, because you are not the only one who wants to become a Liverpool player, all of them wanted to become a Liverpool player.

“But that’s step by step, so you have to get to the first team first and then you have to go to another league first. And if you do it well, you can come to Liverpool.

“But also, if you come to Liverpool it’s not like you have a fixed place in the team, so you have to work that you get into the team, to get your minutes, to play well, to score goals. So, it’s a long journey.”

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