When we see Dominik Szoboszlai routinely putting in electrifying performances during his first four months at Liverpool, it’d be easy to assume that he’s taking to life on Merseyside like a duck to water.
However, we only witness what he does on the pitch for a few hours each week, and not the reality of a young man trying to adapt to a new life in a foreign country after a high-profile job change.
The 23-year-old opened up about life away from the football field in an honest interview with journalist Mark Soos for Fodball.
In one quote translated by Bence Bocsak on X, Szoboszlai admitted to sometimes feeling ‘lonely’ during his time in England so far.
The Liverpool player said: “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel lonely sometimes. There are days when I’m just sitting on the couch wondering about what to do. Then I put on a movie and try to fall asleep, hoping for tomorrow.”
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel lonely sometimes. There are days when I’m just sitting on the couch wondering about what to do. Then I put on a movie and try to fall asleep, hoping for tomorrow.”
A brilliant and very candid interview by @soos_mark_ with Dominik… pic.twitter.com/VZ7K4WeFsU
— Bence Bocsák (@BenBocsak) November 3, 2023
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It can be easy to fall into the trap of perceiving footballers at the highest level as Teflon-like commodities who earn so much money that they ought to just get on with things and be grateful for getting to live their dream.
However, the players we cheer on the football field each week are humans like us who go through the good times and the bad, and whose confident, exuberant public exterior may well belie the struggles they’re facing in their private lives.
It must be remembered that Szoboszlai has only just turned 23 and is still relatively new to living in England, bringing with it a cultural and linguistic shift (although his English is excellent), along with the pressure of repaying the £60m fee paid for him by one of the biggest clubs in world football.
As much as we love seeing him work wonders on the pitch, it’s even more important that he can be happy and healthy during his day-to-day life on Merseyside.
He deserves huge credit for having the courage to admit his feelings of vulnerability and loneliness off the field, but thankfully he couldn’t have a better manager than Jurgen Klopp to handle those issues with the utmost empathy and understanding.
We hope that Szoboszlai will be able to call upon a trusted support network around him to help him through the tougher times away from Anfield.
The post ‘I’d been lying if…’ – Dominik Szoboszlai opens up about life away from the pitch at Liverpool appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.
