If Dominik Szoboszlai was unaware of the size of the club he was joining last week, his first seven days as a Liverpool player have surely removed all doubt for the £60m signing.
It was last Friday, June 30, when the captain of the Hungary national team received a phone call telling him the Reds would in fact be meeting the release clause inside his RB Leipzig contract.
That came after Jurgen Klopp had initially interrupted the midfielder's holidays with a video call outlining his desire to bring him to Anfield. It was a crucial part of the entire negotiation and with Szoboszlai desperate to play for the Reds boss, the conversation was all he needed to get on board.
During the chat, the pair were said to have spoken about plans for how he would be used in a new-look midfield, the Anfield atmosphere and the harmony of a dressing room that has retained its nucleus during a glittering period in recent years.
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"We talked as if we had known each other for a thousand years," Szoboszlai said of his new manager. "In addition to being one of the best coaches in the world, he is also absolutely overwhelming humanly."
After positive discussions had taken place with the player's EM Sports agency at the beginning of the week, the ball really started rolling on Friday evening when the Bundesliga club were formally notified that the £60m clause would be activated.
That set in motion a whirlwind week for the 22-year-old who officially became the fourth most expensive signing of all time at Anfield last Sunday behind Virgil van Dijk (£75m), Alisson Becker (£65m) and Darwin Nunez (£64m, initial).
Along with his long-serving agent Matyas Esterhazy and his father, Zsolt, Szoboszlai was on a private jet that landed into Liverpool's John Lennon airport on Saturday afternoon. From there, he was whisked down the motorway on the 20-minute drive to the club's AXA Training Centre, around 14 miles north of the airport.
The flight to Merseyside was spent listening to You'll Never Walk Alone on repeat as he tried to get quickly up to speed with the culture of his new club. "I listened to it several times," he revealed. "I liked it before, needless to say, I like it even more now."
The Hungarian was given a guided tour of his new workplace while club media filmed his first impressions of the £50m facility. "Good weather, huh?" said the new No.8. "It's always windy here," came the response.
His camp were hugely impressed by how the club handled proceedings over a busy few days for all involved. "We were in contact with many clubs, with whom communication was closer, more frequent, others more relaxed," Esterhazy said. "Our first really serious meeting with Liverpool was on Monday. After that, of course, a lot of water flowed down the Danube, but on Friday afternoon we turned into the home straight."
A routine medical was part of Saturday's agenda with it all passing without a hitch before he was ferried back towards the city centre to the hotel room that will be his temporary home for the coming days. A private message of congratulations from former team-mate Erling Haaland eventually saw the conversation move on to the best areas for a Premier League footballer to purchase property in the north west.
For now, though, it is the hotel that will be Szoboszlai's home and the attacking midfielder was advised not to venture out into town by the club over the following days, so plans for a celebratory evening meal with his father and agent were parked in favour of a room service burger.
Sunday was another full itinerary with the new £60m man back at the Kirkby complex to formally sign his five-year contract before sitting down for a chat with the club's in-house media. Perhaps crucially - for those with a particularly strong twang of Scouse, at least - Szoboszlai provided a filmed explanation of how to pronounce his surname. 'Sob-boss-lie' for the uninitiated.
The decision to allow him to take the No.8 shirt made famous by Steven Gerrard was viewed as a huge sign of respect from the player's camp. "The last three or four days went really long; it was not that easy. But at the end I’m here, I’m happy and I can’t wait to get started," he said. "My phone has gone crazy!" Klopp added: "This is a signing for our present and also for our future and the work that has gone into it could not be more appreciated."
Szoboszlai was then chauffeured across to Anfield to get his first glimpse of the iconic venue since he was part of a Red Bull Salzburg team that were beaten 4-3 by Klopp's side in a Champions League group game as a teenager back in October 2019.
As luck would have it, the trip gave those taking the Anfield tour on Sunday afternoon a special souvenir of their day when they had the opportunity to meet the new man. Szoboszlai was more than happy to pose for pictures with a handful of supporters who likely couldn't believe their good fortune.
After some light training was undertaken on Monday before a perusal of the property sites, Szoboszlai took to the skies once more with his agent and father as he prepared to head back to Leipzig to say his goodbyes to his former colleagues. "Without them I wouldn't have gotten this far, I couldn't call myself a Liverpool player now, but that's football," he said.
The £60m deal is the biggest transfer of all time in Hungary and the captain of the national side is an obvious source of pride for those across the eastern European nation. So much so that sports minister Dr Adam Schmidt even posted about the transfer on his Facebook page.
"The history book of Hungarian football is being written in front of our eyes, in which Dominik Szoboszlai has opened a chapter that we never dared to think of before," he wrote. "The captain of our national football team continues his career in Liverpool, which is in the English Premier League.
"With a transfer fee of 70million euros, he became the most expensive player in Hungarian football to change a club. Congratulations and I support you from the bottom of my heart so that all your dreams come true, I wish you lots of success and a successful career in the future! Watching the new 8 at Liverpool will be special!"
The head coach of Hungary, Marco Rossi, also joined the debate, adding: "The fact that Liverpool were willing to pay a huge amount for him shows how much the acquisition of Dominik was worth to them, and while it is true that the financial part of his transfer is the least interesting aspect for the national team, it is telling."
Back in Budapest, Szoboszlai was front of centre for a press conference arranged by his agency on Tuesday evening as he revealed his delight at being able to work with Klopp and why an absence of Champions League football for the coming campaign had no impact on his decision to move to Anfield. Describing the chance to work with Klopp as akin to hitting "the jackpot", the 22-year-old declared his intention to inspire the Reds back to the top table of European football.
"I can accept that I won't be able to play in [the Champions League] for a year and the goal is to win the Europa League," he said. "My goal is to win titles."
"If he wasn't ready, Liverpool wouldn't have wanted to get him," said Szoboszlai's father, who himself played professionally as a striker. "Obviously, in their own way, in their own field, everyone is proud of their own child, but this is really a special moment."
Szoboszlai will now remain in his homeland until July 10 before he reports with the rest of his international colleagues back for pre-season training at the AXA Centre on the 11th. It's been a jam-packed seven-day period, but Liverpool life is only just getting started for a man who will be given a sizable share of the responsibility to rejuvenate the midfield this coming campaign.
"We haven't had champagne yet, but I can definitely say that we are proud of the journey we have travelled so far," says Esterhazy. The real hard work starts now, however.
