Dominik Szoboszlai’s transfer cost makes him Liverpool’s most expensive signing ever.

When Liverpool exercised their release clause to acquire Szoboszlai from RB Leipzig, the club forked out £60m (€70m) — $32m more than it had paid for Brighton’s Alexis Mac Allister, the club’s second-most expensive transfer.

The real mystery now is why more big clubs weren’t clamoring to sign Szoboszlai for that fee after his spectacular start at Anfield. You wouldn’t put it beyond the Hungarian to repeat as Liverpool’s Player of the Month in September after being justly recognized as the club’s MVP in August.

In the same vein as Naby Keta and Ibrahima Konaté, he was the third player Jürgen Klopp recruited from RB Leipzig in the span of six seasons, and it may only be a couple of years until Liverpool calls the Bundesliga club once again.

Christian Falk of Bild claims that Liverpool ‘will be keeping an eye on’ Los Openda, a striker who can be had for a reported $85 million (£69 million, €80 million) in 2025, when his release clause becomes active.

Openda spent his junior career with Belgian club Club Brugge, but he departed for French club Lens on a permanent deal in 2022 after scoring 16 goals in one season while on loan with Eredivisie club Vitesse.

After leading Lens to an impressive second place finish, one point behind PSG, he was named to the league’s all-star squad after scoring 21 goals in his lone Ligue 1 season.

That earned him a $41 million (£34 million, €39 million) transfer to Leipzig, where he has gotten off to a hot start by scoring five goals in 11 games. One of those goals came against the best side in the world, Manchester City, in the Champions League group stages.

Openda received the ball with his back to goal just inside the Leipzig half, passed it to Yussuf Poulsen, and then dribbled past Rben Dias early in the second half. Openda took contact from Manuel Akanji but still managed to get a shot off that went past Ederson into the corner after Poulsen played the ball into the area.

Even though Leipzig lost 3-1 in the end, the 23-year-old left his mark in one of the greatest games of his young career by scoring the equalizer.

Openda’s nine that day, Erling Haaland, shares a striking resemblance to Haaland’s profile. He averages 0.17 non-penalty expected goals (xG) per shot, which places him in the 78th percentile for xG per shot and in the 89th percentile for total attempts per 90 minutes (3.53). This synergy resulted in one of the highest xG totals (18.4, sixth) in Ligue 1 last season, which is encouraging news for the long-term viability of his goal-scoring talent.

While Openda ranks in the bottom half of his positional peers in terms of link-up play volume, he is in the top 86 percent of his peers in terms of assists (0.21 per 90 minutes), demonstrating an ability to play the killer pass when necessary.

Another similarity to Haaland is his frightening speed, as described by Seb Stafford-Bloor of The Athletic. That’s why he’s been fouled 14 times so far this Bundesliga season, the seventh most of any player. Last season, he ranked 10th in Ligue 1 with 39 carries into the box, so defending against him often means choosing between hauling him down and letting him reach the penalty area.

As previously mentioned, Openda’s release clause will become active in 2025, giving Liverpool time to make a decision on starting goalkeeper Darwin Nez.

So far, Nez has shown tremendous potential at Anfield, but it remains to be seen if that potential will be realized. If it does, a move for Openda, who is of a similar age and profile, may be off the table, but if it doesn’t, Liverpool may have already identified the appropriate replacement.

If he keeps this up, in a few years even that astronomical sum will seem like a steal.