Liverpool star is officially Arne Slot's new BEST player | OneFootball

Last season, Mohamed Salah was indefatigable in his efforts to win the Premier League title.

His 29 goals and 18 assists in the campaign broke the record for most goal contributions in a season.

Every single team was bombarded by the Egyptian and when his teammates were flagging in games, he'd muster up a moment of genius, turning potential losses into draws and potential draws into wins.

Without doubt, he was the Premier League's best player. Winning the official Player of the Season award, alongside the Football Writers' appreciation, the Fans' appreciation and that of his colleagues.

This season, however, the Reds are struggling for leadership. Virgil Van Dijk always takes accountability for his and the team's actions in his capacity as captain, but his defensive efforts haven't been at the standard we expect. A new star has taken on the reigns as our best player.

Szoboszlai is on a generational run

Of course, everything's subjective, but it appears to me at least that Dominik Szoboszlai is currently Liverpool's best player. His levels have risen from last year, while everyone else's have dropped off.

At first, he was used in midfield, with Ryan Gravenberch missing from the clash against Bournemouth to open the Premier League season. He paired Alexis Mac Allister and new signing Florian Wirtz was ahead of the pivot as a high-lying attacking midfielder.

The very next game, however, he was required at right-back because Jeremie Frimpong had pulled up with an injury, while Conor Bradley had been sidelined for the latter half of the Reds' pre-season.

In midfield, Curtis Jones came in for Mac Allister and Gravenberch returned to his usual role. Three major chances were brought in. There was no continuity whatsoever in the midfield double-pivot.

Szoboszlai played as a full-back for the next two games after that, with Arne Slot opting against playing Joe Gomez at right-back instead, which would have allowed him to return to the midfield.

In the matches against Everton and Crystal Palace, we saw the Hungarian moved back to the role he featured in last season - the No. 10, Szoboszlai's third different position - as Wirtz was dropped.

Since then, when only one right-back is available, Szoboszlai has been called upon to leave his place in the midfield to cover as a makeshift full-back. We saw him start in the role against Galatasaray, and he was shifted across against Manchester United. Of course, now that Giovanni Leoni is out for the season, Gomez needs to be protected more as a centre-back, but he rarely gets any minutes.

What's become especially clear over the last two games is that the No.8 position is where Szoboszlai needs to be deployed most often. Against Frankfurt, he scored and assisted, in addition to creating three big chances, five chances overall, 105 accurate passes and seven recoveries. It was immense.

And just three days later, he produces a lonely effort for the Reds against Brentford, earning an assist, alongside creating two chances, 78 accurate passes, 8/10 long-balls, two successful dribbles, three winning tackles, four clearances and 11/16 duels. Once again, he was playing at his very best.

Regardless of which position he's been deployed in, the 25-year-old has been delivering masterful performances, like the two noted above, all season long. Our deep-lying, occasionally attacking midfielder/right-back has two goals and four assists this season. At no point has his level dropped.

From a personal standpoint, he's become Liverpool's best player this season. In spite of everything going wrong around him, his devotion to making a difference in the team hasn't relented once. It's criminal that he's having to play as a right-back at times, but given how committed he is to delivering a performance that the fans can be proud of, Slot is almost hard-pushed to ignore his brilliance.