Dominik Szoboszlai, a summer addition for Liverpool, has been voted Don Hutchison’s Premier League Player of the Year.
Szoboszlai became Liverpool’s fourth-largest signing in club history after the Reds met the £60 million release clause in his contract with RB Leipzig. And despite that astronomical price tag and the burden of wearing the No. 8 jersey made famous by his hero Steven Gerrard, the Hungary captain has surely delivered.
Szoboszlai’s contributions have been crucial to the Reds’ strong start to the season. He has scored two spectacular goals in 11 games, helping Jurgen Klopp’s team move up to fourth place in the early Premier League rankings, into the round of 16 in the Carabao Cup, and to three straight wins in the Europa League.
Szoboszlai has been a huge success at Anfield, although fellow midfield signings Alexis Mac Allister and Wataru Endo have struggled to adapt. As a result, former Liverpool midfielder Hutchison considers the 22-year-old to be the best player in the English Premier League right now.
When asked about Dominik Szoboszlai, Hutchison told ESPN, “In my opinion, he is just a Rolls-Royce of a player.” When he was playing for Hungary in the Bundesliga, I saw him very often.
And I knew how brilliant he was, but to come into this Liverpool club in a team that’s had quite a few red cards already and still stand out—well, I think he’s player of the season.
According to Hutchison, Roberto De Zerbi of Brighton & Hove Albion is the season’s best manager, while James Maddison of Tottenham Hotspur is the season’s biggest surprise and finest transfer (in terms of the sum paid for him, £40 million).
Hutchison is most dissatisfied with Erik ten Hag and Manchester United, but he thinks Liverpool’s cult hero Divock Origi was the worst transfer ever because of his move from AC Milan to Nottingham Forest.
Hutchison also included Mohamed Salah and Alisson Becker in his preseason all-Premier League XI in addition to Szoboszlai.
He has Alisson in goal, as well as Tripper, Van de Ven, Saliba, and Udogie, as well as Szoboszlai, Rodri, and Maddison, and finally Salah, Son, and Izak. Bowen, Ward-Prowse, Neto, Estupinan, Haaland, Odegaard, and Watkins were all used as substitutes.