A number of former Germany internationals have lined up to offer their backing of Liverpool attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz
Florian Wirtz of Liverpool(Image: James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)
Liverpool have been told Florian Wirtz is adjusting to no longer being the main man in the team – but they should not be concerned about the form of the Germany international. Wirtz has experienced a difficult beginning to his Anfield career since arriving in a briefly club-record £116milion transfer from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer.
Having opened the season in the number 10 role, the 22-year-old has been in and out of the starting line-up and emerged in the second half from the bench in the 2-1 Premier League defeat at Chelsea on Saturday evening.
Wirtz is currently with the Germany squad for their forthcoming World Cup qualifiers at home to Luxembourg and away at Northern Ireland.
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And World Cup winner and Germany national team director Rudi Voller has pinpointed what has changed for the player since moving to Liverpool.
“The big difference is: at Bayer Leverkusen, despite the individual quality of the other players, he was always looked for,” Voller said on the Sky90 Podcast.
“Players like Granit Xhaka, Alejandro Grimaldo or Robert Andrich certainly ran the game. But the moment Florian made himself available, he always got the ball. Even as a young guy, he was already the chief.
“I deliberately watched some Liverpool games with him: he does an incredible amount of work, runs a lot, makes many sprints, and also goes deep. But he isn’t played to in the way he was used to at Leverkusen or with the national team.
“That’s something that has to be developed over weeks and months. I know that he’s not one of those divas in his position who stand around with their heads down if they’re not passed to three times. Florian isn’t like that.
“He’s not only an extraordinary footballer, he also has a great character. He will give everything from the first to the last minute, always push forward. He also has incredible running stats. He will assert himself.”
Two more Germany World Cup winners, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Philipp Lahm, have also offered their backing to Wirtz, with Schweinsteiger drawing on his time having to adapt to moving to Manchester United from Bayern Munich in 2015.
Speaking to RTL, he said: “We have to give the players a bit of time. Especially when you move from the Bundesliga to the Premier League, you also have to adjust a bit. I’ve experienced that myself.
“He will delight us all in the future. Florian Wirtz is a fantastic footballer, a great character. We should be happy that we have such a player in Germany.”
And Lahm said: “I’m not worried about Florian Wirtz at all because he’s such an outstanding, brilliant player who simply makes his team-mates better.
“Quality and class always prevail, and that will absolutely be the case with Florian Wirtz.”