Dominik Szoboszlai answers Mohamed Salah call as Liverpool man set for new role audition

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A question posed by Mohamed Salah as his Liverpool career drew to a close in May was just who of the current squad would set the tone going forward by arriving first at the gym.In one of the legendary Salah's final addresses of his nine years at Anfield, an interviewed designed by Sky Sports to showcase tributes directly to him through a cinema screen, was commandeered by the man himself to instead hammer home a message.“I told them when I leave: 'You need an example here'," Salah said. "You need people to come early to the gym and people look at them: ‘Oh he goes to the gym, so I need to go’."If that doesn’t happen, I think it will be tricky for this club because it’s something very, very necessary.

You put the standard high, like people have to come early. People have to go gym."Perhaps seizing the chance to make a point to his friend and now ex-team-mate, Dominik Szoboszlai made sure he tagged in Salah after the Hungary captained returned to work over the weekend, ahead of pre-season training, which begins at the AXA Training Centre on Monday (July 13).Pausing his workout for quick selfie, Szoboszlai uploaded the post to his 5.5m Instagram followers and tagged Salah in it with the succinct captain: "Back".It stands to reason that Szoboszlai, one of the fittest players in the Liverpool squad, would be building up his base fitness levels more than a week out from having to report for duty at the club's Kirkby facility.In the modern game, however, players rarely take a break from keeping themselves in shape and the idea of using the pre-season period to shed the holiday weight is an archaic football trope.Szoboszlai, though, will be one of the most senior members of Andoni Iraola's squad at the base on Monday, owing to Hungary's failure to qualify for the World Cup.It's an important period for Szoboszlai under his third Reds manager in four seasons and while question marks hang over so many in the current crop under Iraola, the consistency levels he displayed in Arne Slot's final term must be matched and then improved upon.It's understood Szoboszlai remains in talks over a new deal at Anfield with 25-year-old the midfielder keen to commit his best years to the club having settled in the North West with his wife Borka and their young daughter.Negotiations are yet to reach a breakthrough and the fate of Ibrahima Konate - who walked away as a free agent to Real Madrid at the age of 27 - might be enough to unsettle fans where Szoboszlai is concerned, but there is at least a determination on both sides to extend the agreement that began three years ago.With no Virgil van Dijk, who will be enjoying a summer break, when the club are in the United States for their pre-season period, Szoboszlai has as much of a chance as anyone else as being named Iraola's captain for the games against Sunderland, Wrexham and Leeds United.There is no other obvious alternative, given that the squad has lost Salah and Andy Robertson and Alisson Becker will also be on his end-of-season vacation.And if Szoboszlai is serious about taking that next step into the leadership bracket at Liverpool, the next few weeks could have a large say on that under Iraola.

This, essentially, could become something of an audition for the No.8.It's just as well that he has apparently taken on the gym challenge set by Salah then.