Newcastle just hit Liverpool transfer problem as Dominik Szoboszlai proves Champions League truth

New Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai has decided to forego Champions League football by joining the Reds, even though former club RB Leipzig had qualified.

In a development virtually nobody would have predicted at the start of the season, Newcastle qualified for the Champions League, and Liverpool didn’t.

The Reds’ collapse, combined with a manager-of-the-year-worthy effort from Eddie Howe, made for a quite astonishing 48-point turnaround, with Newcastle finishing five ahead after trailing by 43 in 2021/22.

And the Magpies are intent on laying down a marker in the summer transfer window to strengthen their grip on a place in the top four.

They have already agreed a joint-club record $77m (£60m/€70m) deal to sign Serie A winner Sandro Tonali from AC Milan, and they want plenty more reinforcements too, with a more versatile midfielder, a center-back and a full-back all on their list (as per The Athletic).

But one player that Newcastle won’t be signing is Dominik Szoboszlai after it pulled out of the race for his signature and allowed Liverpool a free run (as per The Athletic).

The club might claim that it wanted to focus on other targets instead, but that contradicts strong reports that Szoboszlai was near the ‘top’ of the list for this summer.

There’s a possibility that it deemed him too expensive after Leipzig insisted that his release clause be paid in full, but that’s not the most convincing explanation when you consider that Newcastle is owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, meaning it boasts a level of resources few clubs can match.

Ultimately, it may have decided not to waste its time on a player that preferred to go elsewhere.

As Guido Schäfer, the chief reporter at Leipziger Volkszeitung, told The Anfield Wrap, Szoboszlai was ready to choose the Reds over Newcastle if both teams activated the release clause.

Last year, Manchester United backed out of a move for Darwin Núñez when it realized that his heart was set on Liverpool (via Goal), and we may have seen a repeat 12 months on.

Up until recently, Newcastle wouldn’t have had any real hope of rivaling Liverpool for star transfer targets, but the Saudi-led takeover in 2021 was a game-changer, to the extent that we’ll soon be talking about a Premier League ‘big seven’.

The hope may have been that Szoboszlai would have favored the chance to play in Europe’s premier club competition, particularly based on an Instagram post from May where he wrote ‘see you again soon, Champions League’ after Leipzig sealed qualification.

But as it turns out, he’s gone back on that message, choosing instead to accept Europa League football at Anfield.