Real Madrid told to forget about Dominik Szoboszlai transfer and use player right under their nose

Real Madrid have been told to forget about trying to sign Liverpool star Dominik Szoboszlai – as brilliant as he is.

That is the verdict from European football expert Andy Brassell, who believes the Hungarian fixes neither of Los Blancos’ two glaring issues.

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Szoboszlai, whose current Liverpool contract is due to expire in 2028, has been labelled as one of the best players in the world this season.

The 25-year-old has been one of the few standouts from the Reds’ difficult season, despite playing several games at right-back.

Ironically, he has been linked to following in the footsteps of his close friend and former teammate, Trent Alexander-Arnold, who was in that position last season, by moving to Madrid.

Hungary boss Marco Rossi said the LaLiga giants have always been his captain’s ‘dream’, while Vinícius Júnior recently gifted Szoboszlai a personalised pair of his signature Nike boots.

Szoboszlai to Real Madrid

A switch to the Bernabeu would throw into doubt the future of Arda Güler, who had a pubic spat with the Liverpool midfielder last year.

Brassell, who called the 21-year-old the most important player of the Xabi Alonso era, doubled down on how valuable the Turkish star is.

“I think probably Real Madrid need Arda Guler even more than they did in the first part of the season,” he exclusively told talkSPORT.com.

“Without going full recency bias, I look at the last couple of games, where they’ve just about chiselled a win out of Celta with a massive deflected goal by Federico Valverde in the fourth minute of stoppage time. Before that, they lost at home to Getafe at the Bernabeu.

“Those last couple of games, it really underlines how much they have to rely on Arda Guler. Who else in that midfield is unlocking the door?

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“When you look at the quality of players that they’ve got, when you look at the range of options that they’ve got, the amount they spend on wages and the amount they spend buying players in, it’s remarkable really.

“There’s this guy who’s still young, still developing, and if they want someone to open up another team, it has to be him.

“If they want a player for a really crafty last pass or a mini-dribble, it’s him. Who else is it apart from Arda Guler?”

Guler vs Szoboszlai

Guler has scored three goals and registered 13 assists in all competitions this season, two fewer than Szoboszlai’s haul of 10 goals and eight assists, with the latter also often deployed at right-back.

“Funnily enough, I guess there’s two strands of the Szoboszlai argument,” Brassell continued to talkSPORT.com.

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“One, I guess you think, okay, well, he makes you very dangerous from set-pieces, he can shoot from distance, he brings some real dynamism to that team.

“But he wouldn’t be the first player I thought of because if you’re thinking of someone who could add craft to that Real Madrid team, they’ve got a lot of power in that midfield already.

“Now, obviously, with his long-range shooting, Szoboszlai adds something a little bit extra.

“But if I was a Real Madrid director of football, he wouldn’t be the first player on my list.

“I think someone who can regulate the flow of the game with their passing, rather than someone who hares around like you’re playing Premier League every day of the week and twice on Sundays, makes better sense for Real Madrid.

“So, look, clubs don’t always, and particularly a Real Madrid-type club, don’t always go for what they really need in the transfer market.

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“They buy the most bankable players and then figure it out from there.

“But if we’re looking at the issues that Real Madrid have got, the two biggest ones are defence, which was a problem for them last season as well.

“They’ve sort of drifted into the buy-in role of suffering from poor defensive recruitment, and that being something that really lets them down at an elite level on the pitch.

“And that bit of craft in midfield. Dominik Szoboszlai doesn’t address either of those. Brilliant player as he is.”