Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has praised Dominik Szoboszlai after the Hungarian played a key role in the Reds’ win over Aston Villa at the weekend.

The midfielder scored the opener with a finely taken left-footed strike from outside of the box and, when asked for his thoughts on the player, Klopp said Szoboszlai has contributed massively in every match so far this season:

“A machine, huh? That’s now all four games. Pretty impressive, absolutely impressive. Tactically smart, absolutely ready for the dirty part of the game – meaning hard work where it’s not the fancy stuff where they are shooting, crossing, running forward, stuff like this.”

“No, he is really closing down opponents. So important how Curt and Dom defended the half-spaces next to Darwin, super-important. And what a goal! I saw it directly from behind. That was the cleanest strike I saw for a long time. And that was his slightly lesser-good foot. That was, again, a top performance.”

Szoboszlai has surprised many with his work rate

As Klopp mentions, supporters were expecting the 22-year-old to be a big contributor in the final third of the pitch, with goals and assists, but he is also a team player.

Finding a midfielder who is so effective both in and out of possession is very rare, and Szoboszlai seems to be perfectly suited to the Reds’ style of play. £60m could end up being a bargain.

Liverpool’s midfield is beginning to look the part

It’s not a coincidence that the Reds managed to secure their first clean sheet of the season on Sunday. Even without first-choice centre-back pairing Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate, the midfield pressed and closed down their opponents quickly.

A lot of that was down to Szoboszlai, but Curtis Jones and Alexis Mac Allister also played their part as well. That energy and willingness to press is what was missing last season. It is back in full force now.