Reigning English champions Liverpool are looking to have a strong Hungarian contingent in their squad next season: midfielder and Hungarian national team captain Dominik Szoboszlai joined them in 2023, and now, goalkeeper Ármin Pécsi has been signed on by the club as well. What’s more, a new transfer deal for left-back Milos Kerkez is reportedly coming soon!
However, for now, only Pécsi’s arrival has been officially announced. The club did so through a press release on their website on Saturday, 7 June. They paid £1.5 million ($2.02 million) for him, and signed him on a 5-year contract.
The 20-year-old goalie is coming from Puskás Akadémia, the second-place finishers in the Hungarian league last season. Pécsi was in goal for 30 out of the 33 league games in the campaign. He has impressed the experts, so much so that he has even been nominated for the Golden Boy Award, which honours the best U21 players playing in Europe each year and is organized by the Italian sports daily Tuttosport.
Pécsi is the first player from the Hungarian league to be nominated for the youth award. However, he is not the first Hungarian player: his new teammate Szoboszlai came in 8th place in the vote in 2020, while still playing for Red Bull Salzburg in Austria.
As for Pécsi’s near future, his agent Márton Eszterházy has revealed to the Hungarian press that Liverpool will not loan his client out for the next season, as per the terms negotiated between the parties. Instead, he will have the opportunity to hone his skills in a low-pressure environment as a third-choice keeper behind two experienced internationals, Brazilian Alisson Becker and Georgian Giorgi Mamardashvili. The club will be looking for a loan deal in the season after next for Pécsi, to a club ‘fighting for significant goals in an elite league,’ his former goalkeeper coach with Puskás Szabolcs Balajcza has shared with the Hungarian sports daily Nemzeti Sport.
Talking to MLSZ TV, the official YouTube channel of the Hungarian Football Assocation, Ármin Pécsi has said:
‘Liverpool’s staff have analysed many of my games from many aspects, which they shared during our meeting. It is stunning how much detail they can pay attention to. Naturally, it is very motivating that a club with such an analytics staff has chosen to sign me, and wants to build me up as a player. I would like to show them that they have chosen the right person for the task.’
Pécsi has yet to make his debut for the senior Hungarian national team, but has been a standard fixture during the call-ups for the youth national teams since 2021. He is still only 20 years old, stands 6’3 (190 cm) tall, and weighs 172 pounds (78 kilograms).
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