‘What the hell is this?’ – European giants’ former chief recalls missing out on Dominik Szoboszlai | OneFootball

Ever before he joined Liverpool two summers ago, Dominik Szoboszlai was close to agreeing a move to another giant of European football.

The 24-year-old is among many players to have worked their way through Red Bull’s footballing food chain, starting off at Austrian ‘feeder’ club Liefereng before moving to their Salzburg and Leipzig stables and then making the £60m switch to Anfield in 2023.

However, the Hungary midfielder – who produced one ‘outrageous’ pass in the 2-2 draw against Arsenal on Sunday – almost ended up in Serie A when he was still just a teenager.

Milan almost signed Szoboszlai in 2020

Zvonimir Boban was Chief Football Officer at AC Milan between June 2019 and March 2020 (having previously had a prominent playing career at the club), and he’s revealed just how close he came to securing a deal for Szoboszlai five years ago.

Speaking to Calciomercato, the Croatian reflected: “Personally I went to close Dani Olmo. They didn’t want to do it. It was January 2020. Everything was agreed, maybe something had to be raised, but it was a deal worth €18m plus €2m [in add-ons].

“We had also taken Szoboszlai. Everything was agreed – €20m [£17m] of the clause with Salzburg. Two operations that we would have concluded with the sales of [Krzysztof] Piatek and Suso. They denied those too and I said to myself: ‘What the hell is this?'”

(Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

Milan’s loss has been Liverpool’s gain as Szoboszlai follows familiar path

Would Szoboszlai now be a Liverpool player had Boban managed to sign him for Milan in January 2020? We’ll never know for sure, but on reflection it feels like a sliding doors moment which, in time, would lead him to Anfield (and subsequent rumours of £100m interest from Al-Hilal).

The Hungarian was then making a name for himself around Europe with Red Bull Salzburg, for whom he actually faced the Reds twice in the Champions League that season, before joining Leipzig a year later.

The Rossoneri recovered from missing out on our current number 8 by winning Serie A in 2022, and had he been part of that triumph, maybe he’d wouldn’t have wanted to leave the San Siro for some time.

Instead, Liverpool utilised their well-established working relationship with RB Leipzig the following summer by making a third signing in six years from the Bundesliga outfit, with Szoboszlai following in the footsteps of Naby Keita and Ibrahima Konate.

Having helped himself to 14 goals and assists each over his first two seasons at Anfield and won the Carabao Cup and Premier League, we’re sure the 24-year-old will have zero regrets about how his career path has panned out, and we can be grateful for Milan’s failure to close a deal for him during Boban’s time at the helm.