“I don’t know why…” – John Aldridge fears Liverpool’s stance on one player could ‘backfire’

John Aldridge has questioned why Liverpool weren’t more assertive in pulling Dominik Szoboszlai out of national team duty when he’s currently nursing a minor injury.

The midfielder sprained his ankle in the 3-1 victory at Crystal Palace on Sunday, with Andoni Iraola uncertain after the game as to whether or not the 26-year-old would join up with his country during this international window.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Hungarian FA said that a decision on the player’s participation against Georgia and Northern Ireland over the next week will be deferred until the ‘last minute’ as his fitness continues to be assessed.

Aldridge: Liverpool should’ve been firmer with Szoboszlai

In his latest column for the Liverpool Echo, Aldridge voiced his belief that Liverpool should’ve done more to prevent Szoboszlai from playing for Hungary in the coming days when he’s clearly not fully fit.

The former Reds striker wrote: ‘I know Virgil van Dijk has pulled out of the Netherlands squad because of a little niggle, but Dominik Szoboszlai has stayed with Hungary despite injuring his knee against Palace.

‘Any other club would pull them out of international duty. Manchester United, Arsenal, Man City – they’d all pull them. We’ve seen it before. Any doubt and that’s it, decision made, you’re not playing. I don’t understand why we don’t throw our weight around like that.

‘I understand players want to play for their country. I was the same with Ireland. I would answer call-ups even when I was injured. I get what it means and how much it means to players, but any other club would just pull them. That’s not happened here, I don’t know why. Hopefully that just means it’s not that serious.

‘It still sounds like they’re taking a risk. If he stays with Hungary and plays, we’ve just got to hope the decision doesn’t backfire and come back to hurt Liverpool.’

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A tricky dilemma for Liverpool to manage

As Szoboszlai is contracted to Liverpool, the Merseyside club could’ve blocked him from representing his country during this international window because of his knee injury.

However, it’d appear to be a case of the player wanting to at least link up with the Hungary camp and try to prove his fitness, and Anfield chiefs green-lighting that action out of respect for the 26-year-old and not wanting to antagonise him by forbidding him to travel.

The grey area over the midfielder potentially being fit enough to play but not certain of doing so has presented a tricky dilemma, as much as Iraola would no doubt have preferred for our number 8 to swerve national team duty and prioritise his club instead.

With Hungary not playing until Saturday, that does give Szoboszlai a bit of time to recover from the knee issue he incurred at Selhurst Park, and we’d like to think that Marco Rossi wouldn’t risk fielding him against Georgia unless he’s definitely OK to feature.

While a swift return to action for the 26-year-old would obviously be a good thing, we just hope it doesn’t come at the expense of his involvement for Liverpool in the coming weeks, especially with a hectic run of 11 matches in 40 days before the end of December.