Player Profile

When Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers decided to leave Simon Mignolet out of the first team as soon as the club’s Champions League interest ended in December 2014 he took a risk in that the only recognised understudies to the Belgian were the experienced but 32-year-old Australian Brad Jones and the inexperienced 21-year-old Welshman Danny Ward. If anything happened to Jones (and it did; he had to leave the field with an injury at Burnley on Boxing Day) it would leave the club very short on cover for the important position of goalkeeper. Even though Mignolet’s form improved when he returned it was clear that he needed someone to put more pressure on his place in the team. Ward going on loan to Morecambe during the closing weeks of the 2014/15 season suggested that Rodgers felt that he was not the man to put that pressure on. So it wasn’t a secret that Liverpool were looking to add another goalkeeper to the senior squad. Nor was it a surprise that the man they chose was the Hungarian Adam Bogdan because he had been linked with a move away from Bolton Wanderers when it was realised that his contract with the Trotters ran out in the summer of 2015.

Bogdan was born in the Hungarian capital of Budapest and his fledgeling career began at one of the city’s main clubs, Vasas Sport Club. He never played for their first team though but did gain some useful experience on loan representing Vecsési FC, another club in the Budapest area. His decision to leave his homeland in 2007 at the age of 19 and move to England was key to his development as a professional footballer. By choosing Bolton Wanderers he knew that he would have to be patient because the man he had to dislodge there was the hugely experienced and talented Finn, Jussi Jääskeläinen, who already had the best part of a decade in the English game behind him and who hardly ever missed a match. Bogdan made his Bolton debut in a League Cup-tie in August 2010 and his League debut came a few days later because Jääskeläinen was serving a suspension after being sent off. Bolton were relegated from the Premier League at the end of the 2011/12 season and when Jääskeläinen rejected their offer of a new contract this was the chance that Bogdán, now 24-years-old, had been waiting for. In the next three seasons, he played in eighty Championship matches for Wanderers but the club did not ever look like making a quick return to the top division with finishes of 7th, 14th and 18th. Although the goalkeeper signed an extension to his contract (and honoured it) his final Bolton match came at home to Birmingham City on 2 May 2015. 

Bogdan arrived at Anfield having played in more English League matches for Bolton (104) than Mignolet has played for Liverpool (74). Both were 27-years-old at the time of Bogdan’s transfer being confirmed. Because goalkeepers’ careers often extend longer than most outfield players it isn’t too relevant that they are the same age. After conceding eight goals in six games in the 2015/16 campaign and the signing of goalkeeper Loris Karius to rival Mignolet, Bogdan was loaned to Wigan Athletic for the 2016/17 season where he was first choice, however, a cruciate ligament injury sustained in November 2016 ruled him out for the rest of the campaign. After a lengthy recovery process, he finally appeared again in March 2018 for the U-23s in the Premier League Cup, dropping a cross to gift Middlesbrough a goal in a 3-1 defeat. Bogdan was loaned to Hibernian for the 2018/19 season, where he was first choice for the first half of the campaign. However, in a cup tie with Elgin City he suffered a kick in the head, leading to concussion and after a spell on the sidelines was not able to force his way back into the number one spot. On 7 June 2019 it was confirmed that Bogdan would be leaving Liverpool. Bodgan returned to Hibernian in November 2019 as back up keeper, but didn't make any appearances in a season that was curtailed early due to Covid 19. In the summer of 2020 he agreed to join Hungarian champions Ferencvaros as back up keeper. He didn't feature until the final five games of a season in which they won the title again, but it earned him a call up to the Hungarian squad for the European Championships where he was an unused substitute in all three group games. When he returned to club football, it was again as a back up, making eleven appearances for Ferencvaros in all competitions in 2021/22 and remaining there for the following season. He made six appearances, three of them in the league and then left the club at the end of the season. He then confirmed retirement from playing and enrolled on a two year course with the PFA Business School.