Kieran Trippier may have to get practicing his free-kicks if he wants to stay on set-piece duty next season should Newcastle United sign Dominik Szoboszlai this summer.
England international Kieran Trippier is currently Newcastle’s dead-ball specialist but as talk of Dominik Szoboszlai making the switch to Tyneside this summer intensify, that may change next season.
It would take a pretty impressive free-kick taker to knock Trippier off that duty for Newcastle, but Szoboszlai is no slouch when it comes to pinging in free-kicks, and it didn’t take him long to show that by firing in a free-kick on his full Bundesliga debut for RB Leipzig – his second goal of the night.
Szoboszlai has a ‘realistic view’ of his ability
Bundesliga.com ran a profile on Szoboszlai which was basically a list of five facts about the Hungarian, one of which was to highlight his ability as a dead-ball specialist. This quote from his former international coach at Under 21 level Michael Boris, highlights exactly why Trippier should be worried: “He knows exactly what he’s capable of,” he told Goal. “Not in an arrogant way; even in his younger years he always had a very realistic view of his ability. That was very impressive.
“In the 21s we had a lot of players who were already playing in the top-flight with senior teams. But whenever we got a free-kick, and despite being younger than everyone else, Dominik just grabbed the ball as if it was the most natural thing in the world, and he’d take it.”
Newcastle should be looking to activate his £61m release clause ASAP
What’s worth noting there is that at the time, Szoboszlai was just 16 playing in the Under 21s. That’s impressive confidence and also, it shows how good he is that none of the older players questioned it and let him take the kicks.
I imagine that Szoboszlai might not get away with that move at Newcastle with Trippier around, but you have to admire the confidence.
As the days go on the links to Newcastle grow stronger, and while we are likely to have competition, there seems to be an increasing confidence that Szoboszlai could be playing at St James’ Park next season. With a £61million release clause there should be nothing stopping Newcastle going for the ‘superb‘ 22-year-old.
Fans on Twitter today have been very excited by the links for Szoboszlai and it’s not difficult to understand why, he’s an exceptional talent and would be perfect for Newcastle.