Fabrizio Romano has said that Dominik Szoboszlai’s reaction when Liverpool began meeting with his camp over a possible move to Anfield was ‘immediately very positive’ and left the player ‘super excited’.
The 22-year-old’s transfer to Merseyside was confirmed by the Reds on Sunday, with the Italian reporter indicating a cost of €70m (£60m), the Hungary international’s release clause at RB Leipzig (via Twitter).
Romano was speaking on the DeBrief podcast (via CaughtOffside) when he outlined that Jurgen Klopp has been a long-time admirer of the club’s new signing, with an instant impression being made when LFC first met with the player’s entourage.
The journalist said: “Jurgen Klopp has always been a big fan of the player. He is a typical player for his ideas. So they always discussed internally the name of Dominik Szoboszlai. We know very well that they had many other options so the decision to go for Szoboszlai was at the beginning of last week.
“They discussed it internally and when they started the meeting with the player’s side the reaction of the player was immediately very positive; he wanted to try Liverpool, he was super excited about the possibility of moving to the Premier League and to join Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp, who is a big fan of him, so the connection is very good.”
Many transfers in the modern era are the culmination of a long-running saga, with plenty of lengthy pursuits ultimately not coming off at all, so for Liverpool to get Szoboszlai signed so quickly will have come as a pleasant surprise to a lot of Reds supporters.
It’s also a testament to how enthusiastic both he and the club were about the move that it took so little time to be completed, with neither side needing a hard sell to make it happen.
With Romano hinting at how the 22-year-old is ‘super excited’ about the transfer, it’s fair to assume that the Hungarian can’t wait to get going at Anfield, with the upcoming pre-season schedule set to offer fans a first glimpse of him in the iconic red shirt.
It seems that a ‘connection’ already exists between Klopp and Szoboszlai before the latter has even played or trained for the club, so imagine how strong that could become once he gets settled into the Liverpool line-up over the coming weeks and months.