On the field, Luis Diaz had a great impression in his debut half-season at Liverpool after joining from FC Porto for $61m (£50m/€58m) at the end of January 2022.

Liverpool went from averaging 2.18 points per game before he arrived, putting it on track for 82-83 points at the end of the season, to a sensational 2.75 over the last 16 games with Diaz on board, a run of form that saw it amass 92 points, one fewer than a Manchester City side that had previously enjoyed a commanding advantage.

Liverpool almost missed out on a Premier League title competition that few expected at the start of the year, when the Reds seemed destined for a lonely top-four finish. They also barely lost to Real Madrid in the Champions League final, but a domestic cup double helped to soothe the blow, with Diaz excelling in both finals.

The Colombian was perhaps Liverpool’s most impressive offensive player throughout the run-in, but the groundwork for the outstanding stretch was set on the training ground, which Diaz had palpably re-energized.

He would give the campaign new vitality, injecting new energy and a renewed belief that City was within striking reach. Perhaps things were getting a little stale previously, especially given that only one reinforcement had arrived the previous summer, and he was the needed fresh face in the winter months.

A handful of Diaz’s teammates have verified what we all believed on the outside, with Andy Robertson speaking lovingly of his ‘huge smile’ and Diogo Jota adding that the club tapped into the ‘energy’ he demonstrated ‘in every single moment’. His approach and application lifted the group and elevated expectations, establishing a new bar for his teammates to meet.

Now, 18 months later, Dominik Szoboszlai, another fresh addition, appears to be having a similar influence. Last season, Liverpool’s morale was visibly dismal as the team went into an unexpected slump, dropping so far down the standings that it looked like it would miss out on European competition entirely.

Many supporters raised valid questions about the players’ attitude as they attempted to explain a shocking relegation, citing the team’s dreadful away record — the Reds won just six games on the road all season and only won away to three bottom-half sides — and some candid comments from figures like Trent Alexander-Arnold, who admitted after a bleak defeat to Bournemouth that ‘they probably wanted it more than us’.

The group appeared physically exhausted from the previous season’s 63-game marathon, reducing the effectiveness of its previously renowned pressing game, but the players also appeared mentally exhausted, dropped to the canvas after a brutal end to the campaign and asked to go again with only one senior addition in Darwin Nunez (a replacement for Sadio Mané).

Szoboszlai has helped to reinvigorate Liverpool behind the scenes in addition to his multitude of footballing skills (such as his long-range potency, creativity, and excellent defensive contribution).

His coaches have remarked on his ‘attitude and intensity in training,’ which has created a ‘new dynamic that is already pushing others around him to excel,’ according to The Times. Given the club’s aforementioned issues last season, a player like this was exactly what they required.

Szoboszlai is only 22 years old, but he’s already established himself as a leader as the captain of the Hungarian national team. Together with the three other newcomers, he is lifting not only the Liverpool midfield, but the entire squad, and this has proven to be a critical advantage of the club’s summer buying spree.