‘I couldn’t believe’: Paul Merson stunned by how good £60m player Newcastle almost signed is

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Newcastle United are going to be coming up against Dominik Szoboszlai this weekend, who is someone who very nearly signed for the Magpies.

He will be wearing a Liverpool shirt on Sunday, but a lot of Toon fans actually expected to see him in black and white.

The Hungarian was a major target for Newcastle earlier this summer. Eddie Howe was looking to add an attacking midfielder to his squad ahead of the new season, and was eyeing up a deal for either James Maddison or Szoboszlai.

A move for the latter made much more sense because of his age and the finances involved in comparison to Maddison, but the issue was the price.

Newcastle did not want to pay Szoboszlai’s release clause, but Liverpool were happy to oblige. They swooped in and got the 22-year-old for £60million.

A move there made sense in the end, as it became very clear that he wanted to sign for the Reds and play under Jurgen Klopp – despite the fact he would miss at least a year of Champions League football.

Dominik Szoboszlai heads to Newcastle this weekend

Now he is set to head to St James’ Park for the first time in his career, and he is one danger man that Howe will be looking to neutralise.

That might be easier said than done, as Szoboszlai is a player who has really impressed since his arrival in the Premier League. In fact, pundit Paul Merson is shocked at how good he is.

In his weekly Sportskeeda column, Merson wrote: “I was very impressed with Dominik Szoboszlai the other day – I couldn’t believe how good he was.”

Szoboszlai was outstanding against Bournemouth, but he was at the heart of one of the game’s more controversial incidents. He won his side a penalty in the first half, but replays appear to suggest that it was a dive. However, he managed to get away with it and give Mo Salah the chance to score.

Away from that, Szoboszlai was very impressive, and someone who Newcastle must be very wary of on Sunday. Hopefully Tonali gets the better of him, as that is who the Magpies decided to sign instead.