Dominik Szoboszlai has just a little over two years left on his current Liverpool deal.
Reports recently have claimed talks are underway over extending his stay on Merseyside. When asked if anything has progressed, the Hungary skipper didn’t give a positive update. It wasn’t a negative one either. It was just factual.
Asked if there’d been any progress made, the Liverpool No8 said: "Nothing yet, to be honest. Nothing, from now on...it is not in my hands. It works this way. There is no progression but if the right offer comes then let's see. Let's see what happens, hopefully everyone will be happy at the end.
"Of course [I want to stay]. I like the city, I like the club, I like playing with these guys, I love Anfield, I love the fans, let's see what the future holds. It is not on me. I would love to [stay]. We will see."
So what can we truly take from that? Well, reading between the lines, the offers made by the club to date haven’t been deemed right by the player or his management team.
His response reminded fans of the ones given by Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk last year. He says all of the right things and heaps the pressure on the club.
He wants to stay. But there’s a caveat to it. He’ll only stay if he’s compensated fairly. He’s not going to stay out of the kindness of his heart. And that is completely understandable.
Now, for a lot of people, this is an easy deal to make.
The 25-year-old is heading into the pomp of his career. He’s an important player for the Reds and it makes a lot of sense to tie him down to a new, improved deal, just as they did with Ryan Gravenberch. The Dutchman is now one of the highest paid midfielders in the world on a reported £280,000-per-week.
But a new deal for the Liverpool No8 isn’t as necessarily straightforward.
Liverpool will want to make sure they’re getting value for money. They’ll weigh up whether he’s worth further investment or whether a sale this summer is the smart play.
Internally, there may be a battle going on right now with regards to what to do with the former RB Leipzig attacker.
Szoboszlai has been the Player of the Season for the Reds. He’s scored against Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United. With Andrew Robertson set to depart in the summer, the Hungary international will have eyes on the vice captaincy role too.
Negotiating a deal right now puts the player in complete control. It’s probably the worst time from the club’s perspective to open talks.
The former Red Bull Salzburg youngster can point to many, many moments this term to showcase his worth. He can point to the new deals offered to Salah and Van Dijk, deals that raised the ceiling of the salary structure, and the deals we’ve reportedly given to Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz.
The Reds also reportedly gave Cody Gakpo a big pay day in the summer with the Dutchman now allegedly on £200,000-per-week.
Szoboszlai’s agent can go into negotiations with Richard Hughes and confidently say that his guy has outperformed all of those players this season.
According to reports in Hungary, the versatile midfielder wants £300,000-per-week. And while it does seem a little outrageous at first glance, he can make a case for it when online outlets have Wirtz on £250,000-per-week and Isak on £280,000-per-week.
He’d probably settle on £250,000-per-week, right? That’d represent a hefty pay increase.
Despite reports claiming he’s 'only' on £120,000-per-week now, he won’t be. Liverpool’s payment structure means that, with him being into his third season here and having played 45+ games in each of his two full campaigns on Merseyside, he’ll likely be on £160,000-per-week now before bonuses.
While a £90,000-per-week uplift might seem excessive, the club set the bar with these deals in the summer.
Why wouldn’t the club give their Player of the Season that deal?
If you remove emotion and subjectivity from this and look at it as objective as possible, there might be a reluctance.
Liverpool spent £100million on Szoboszlai’s replacement in the summer. Wirtz was signed to take the No8’s spot in the starting XI and he did just that.
The versatile midfielder was going to essentially replace Harvey Elliott in the squad, but he’d get a lot more playing time because Slot trusted him. He was going to be a rotation option in midfield, relief for Wirtz as the attacking midfielder and even cover for Salah on the right.
Then, in case of an emergency, he could play at right-back.
He was the squad’s utility man.
Had the season gone to plan, this would’ve been his role. However, as luck would have it, he started the season in the double pivot because of Gravenberch’s suspension and Alexis Mac Allister’s fitness issues.
He then impressed at right-back after the injury crisis, replacing Wirtz as the attacking midfielder when Slot looked to go back to basics before eventually succeeding Salah on the right of the attack when the No11 was dropped.
His versatility has been invaluable this season but could that work against him? He doesn’t have a set role in the team, so can you pay him the big money? While most would have him in their best XIs, would Slot? If there was a Champions League final tomorrow and everyone was in top form and we had no injuries, would Szoboszlai make the XI?
That’s the question. That’s the key question when looking at these negotiations.
Because can you justify making him one of the highest earners at the club when he’s viewed as a squad player? It's a genuinely intriguing conundrum to solve. He doesn't particularly feel like someone who would leave for big money in the summer.
If he was going to leave, it’d be for Real Madrid and they aren’t spending £100million on him. They’d want him on a free, which means he’ll either run down his deal at Anfield or pen a new contract on his terms that’ll take him into his 30s.
But this contract would need to be worthwhile to him. So will the club bend to his whim and give him the big money? It’s another headache for Hughes and Co once the season comes to an end.
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