Carragher tells Iraola to have brutal ‘conversation’ with £60m Liverpool midfielder and change his mind
Jamie Carragher has said that Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola needs to change Dominik Szoboszlai’s role in the team.
Szoboszlai is a midfielder by trade, but the Hungary international was deployed at right-back on many occasions last season.
The Liverpool midfielder scored 13 goals and gave 12 assists in 53 matches in all competitions last season.
Of those games, Szoboszlai, who cost Liverpool £60million when they signed him from RB Leipzig in 2023, played 10 times as a right-back and 10 matches as a right-winger.
Liverpool manager Iraola has used Szoboszlai in central midfield this season.
However, former Liverpool defender Carragher believes that Iraola needs to change the Hungarian’s position and play him at right-back.
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Dominik Szoboszlai should play at right-back for Liverpool
Carragher said about Szoboszlai on The Overlap: “I have never believed Szoboszlai is a central midfield player.
“You would know the role better than me, Roy (Keane).
“Now, he signed a new contract, and I can only imagine in those talks, they were desperate for him to stay, he has almost said, I want to play midfield because he has moved around a bit.
“And he started the season in central midfield.
“I don’t see him as that.
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“For me, in a midfield, he’s a Jordan Henderson – runner, energy with probably more of a goal threat really, but Liverpool don’t play that way.
“And he is not really a classic number 10 really.
“His actual best role could possibly be at right-back because he can get a lot of the ball, he can run, he almost plat that Trent role for you from there, but there’s no way I think he’s going to want to play there because he has probably signed a contract for £350 grand a week, to put a midfield player to right-back, and you have just done this big thing, he’s the vice-captain.
“I just think that’s a conversation Iraola has got to have going forward because the midfield is not right and he’s part of that midfield not being right.
“Whether he ends up going to right-back and how they can dress it up to that is not just being right-back, you are actually going to run the game from there.”
During a press conference on Thursday, Iraola said that he will use Szoboszlai at right-back if he has to.
The Liverpool manager said: “I haven’t found any situation where a player has said he doesn’t want to play in a position.
“We have discussions, but everyone wants to help.
“If we have to play Dom as a right winger, as a right-back or a midfielder, he wants to help the team first.
“We have some injuries now, and we need the versatility of the players, players like Dom.
“Even in the game, they have to change positions.”
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