Reported Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur target Dominik Szoboszlai is “like Kai Havertz” and could be a 2021 target for Bayern Munich, German legend Lothar Matthaus tells AZ.
There aren’t many players who, at the age of 20, can consider themselves to be a bonafide footballing legend back home.
And while Szoboszlai has a long way to go before he’s mentioned in the same breath as Mighty Magyars Ferenc Puskas, Sandor Kocsis and co, the Salzburg star secured his place in Hungarian folklore last week.
A searing, stoppage-time winner against Iceland fired his side into Euro 2020 in the most dramatic fashion imaginable.
It was the sort of goal that is quickly becoming Szoboszlai’s trademark – struck like an Exocet from 25 yards and fizzed into the net at a rate of knots.
Such moments of match-winning magic explain why Liverpool, Spurs, Everton, Leicester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers have scouted the Budapest-born dynamo recently (90Min).
Arsenal have been watching Szoboszlai closely too and, considering the Gunners haven’t scored from open play in six hours of Premier League football, a Mesut Ozil replacement can’t come soon enough.
Matthaus, however, feels Szoboszlai shares similarities with another German playmaker, while possessing the ability to challenge Thomas Muller and Leon Goretzka for a place in Hansi Flick’s galaxy of stars.
“There is Dominik Szoboszlai, who scored the decisive goal against Iceland. He’s a gem. A guy like Kai Havertz,” the 1990 Ballon D’Or winner says.
“In Hungary, he is already being compared to the great Ferenc Puskas. A really great player who sometimes plays in the centre and sometimes drifts over to the wings.
“He could move to RB Leipzig in January but I’m convinced every top European club has him on the list, including Bayern.”
Szoboszlai models his game on Toni Kroos but, with 17 goals and 27 assists in his last 53 matches, Salzburg’s latest boy wonder is producing the kind of attacking numbers Real Madrid’s midfield maestro could only dream of.
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