I played with Liverpool star when he was just 18 - it was easy for him
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Former Red Bull Salzburg midfielder Diadie Samassekou is not surprised to see his former team-mate, Dominik Szoboszlai, thrive at LiverpoolDominik Szoboszlai has been one of Liverpool’s star players so far this season, despite vacating the position he had made his own during the Reds’ Premier League title-winning campaign. The Hungarian was predominantly stationed at number 10 during Arne Slot’s first season in charge.Making 49 appearances in all competitions, he returned eight goals and eight assists but came in for criticism in some sections for not producing more in the final third.Following the £116m signing of Florian Wirtz this summer, Slot has instead used Szoboszlai in a variety of positions.
While he has started Liverpool’s last three Premier League matches at number 10, the majority of his game time has been split between a deeper midfield role and as a makeshift right-back.READ MORE: EXCLUSIVE: Virgil van Dijk opens up on Liverpool captaincy, culture and why new-look team must deliverREAD MORE: I wanted to sign world-class Liverpool player - He was a priority but our situation was woefulBut that has not stopped him from impressing for the Reds, despite the fact that Slot’s new-look side have not been at their best.An ever-present across his 10 appearances so far this season, Liverpool’s League Cup clash with Southampton, where he was rested by Slot, is the only game he has missed.He scored a stunning free-kick against Arsenal back in August to claim a vital victory over the Gunners, who currently lead the Premier League table, and has also registered assists against both Crystal Palace (in the Community Shield) and Atletico Madrid.Meanwhile, it was his dummy that created Rio Ngumoha’s dramatic winner against Newcastle United, with his performances in August seeing him voted the club’s Player of the Month.Szobolszai has also taken such form onto the international stage, as the 24-year-old scored a stoppage-time equaliser for Hungary against Portugal on Tuesday night. Szoboszlai is almost certain to start, with the only debate being which position Slot opts to select him in.A £60m signing from RB Leipzig in the summer of 2023, one of the midfielder’s former team-mates is not surprised to see him now thriving on the highest stage for club and country.Diadie Samassekou, now of Houston Dynamo, spent two seasons alongside Szoboszlai at Red Bull Salzburg when the midfielder first broke into the Austrian outfit’s first team.Even though he was just a teenager at the time, it did not take Szoboszlai long to make an impact on Samassekou and the rest of his team-mates.“Even at 18, you definitely saw the potential,” Samassekou told RG.
“Because he was already the captain of the Under-17s when he joined.“We knew that he was really a good shooter who’s technically gifted, who worked really hard. He’s doing really well at Liverpool.”Szoboszlai and Samassekou made 16 appearances together and were both named in a further 10 matchday squads, as they helped Red Bull Salzburg win an Austrian Bundesliga and Cup double in 2018/19.The now Liverpool midfielder would finish the campaign with five goals and five assists from 20 appearances during an eye-catching breakout season with the Austrian outfit when he was just 18 years old.Samassekou went on to join TSG Hoffenheim at the start of the following season, with the Hungarian then following the Mali international to the Bundesliga in January 2021 as he was signed by RB Leipzig in a €20m deal.Szoboszlai would later go on to face Sammassekou twice as an opponent during the 2021/22 season.