Florian Wirtz’s difficult begin to life at Liverpool continued by Manchester Metropolis on Sunday, when the Germany worldwide was as soon as once more unable to make a significant impression on a Premier League recreation.
Wirtz is but to attain a objective or register an help within the Premier League following his £116m (together with add-ons) transfer from Bayer Leverkusen in the summertime.
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The 22-year-old has produced extra promising moments within the Champions League however there will be little question that his league type is a priority for and head coach Arne Slot.
Telegraph Sport examines what goes mistaken for Wirtz – and why considered one of Europe’s most proficient younger gamers has endured such a troublesome starting to his Liverpool profession.
Is Wirtz too light-weight?
Maybe essentially the most damning remark to be made about Wirtz’s begin at Liverpool got here from Gary Neville on Sunday, following the heavy loss to Metropolis. “I believed Wirtz appeared like a bit boy,” stated Neville on Sky Sports activities. “That may’t be the case.”
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Neville will not be the primary high-profile pundit to query Wirtz’s physicality. Earlier this season, Micah Richards described the German as “small, petite, not very robust”. Former England playmaker Joe Cole, in the meantime, has stated Wirtz is “light-weight”.
Such criticism may really feel a bit primary. In any case, there are many diminutive playmakers who’ve thrived within the Premier League in recent times.
Matheus Nunes stored Florian Wirtz quiet on the Etihad – Getty Photos/Michael Regan
It’s unquestionably the case, although, that the physicality of the division – which is famously essentially the most bodily demanding league in Europe – is presenting an issue for Wirtz. This was made clear on his Premier League debut, in opposition to Bournemouth, when he was merely thrown to the ground by Antoine Semenyo.
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Even essentially the most tactically superior managers within the Premier League, akin to Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta, are obsessive about the significance of profitable duels.
At half-time in opposition to Sunderland this weekend, for instance, Arteta’s message to his Arsenal gamers was that they might solely be capable of play their recreation once they began profitable duels. Guardiola, too, spoke about “the duels” when discussing how his crew was capable of defeat Liverpool.
Relating to these bodily battles along with his opponents, Wirtz is discovering life rather more troublesome in England than he did in Germany with Leverkusen.
Within the Premier League this season, he has gained 35 per cent of his duels (and 11 per cent of his aerial duels) in comparison with a hit charge of 45 per cent (and 20 per cent in aerial duels) within the Bundesliga final season. In different phrases, Wirtz has to date been unable to adapt to the step-up in physicality in English soccer.
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Left wanting… fewer touches in the best areas
In comparison with the previous few seasons, when he was the beating coronary heart of Leverkusen’s assault, Wirtz has too typically been on the periphery of matches in a Liverpool shirt. He’s merely not receiving the ball as typically as he’s used to, and he’s actually not receiving sufficient of it within the areas from which he can harm opponents.
Wirtz’s touches per match have plummeted from 80 final season to 58 within the Premier League. In attacking areas, the decline is much more pronounced: he averages 27 touches per match within the closing third within the Premier League, in comparison with 45 per recreation in Germany final season.
Clearly, Liverpool haven’t discovered a solution to funnel the ball to Wirtz in the best positions. Why? One clarification is that his team-mates haven’t but realized his actions. One other is that Slot’s system has principally not allowed him to function within the areas of the pitch by which he excelled final season.
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It’s telling that Slot moved Wirtz out of central midfield and right into a extra left-sided attacking place in Liverpool’s final two matches. Wirtz carried out effectively in such a task in opposition to Actual Madrid in midweek, producing maybe his greatest recreation for Liverpool, however was far much less efficient in opposition to Metropolis.
Wirtz was signed to play as a central No 10 for Liverpool however he took the vast majority of his touches for Leverkusen final season on the left wing (when he was principally the left-sided attacking midfielder in a 3-4-2-1 formation). Within the Bundesliga final yr, 45 per cent of his touches got here in left-sided attacking areas. For Liverpool this season, it has been 25 per cent. Total, he has truly taken extra touches (27 per cent) for Liverpool on the best flank.
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From the left wing, Wirtz is ready to drift infield onto his stronger proper foot. Away from the congested central areas, he additionally has extra time and house on the ball, which ought to assist him to keep away from a few of the Premier League’s large midfielders and defenders. It might not be a shock, subsequently, if Slot sticks along with his present plan and retains Wirtz away from the midfield three for the foreseeable future.
Crew-mates hurting his trigger
There may be an argument to be made that Wirtz has been persistently unfortunate this season. One other means of placing it might be to say that he has been persistently let down by his team-mates.
It is because the German has truly been one of the crucial inventive gamers within the Premier League this season, regardless of the struggles mentioned above. Of normal attacking gamers within the division, solely seven gamers have created probabilities at a sooner charge than Wirtz in 2025/26.
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To date this season, Wirtz has created 16 probabilities for his team-mates within the Premier League. Not a kind of probabilities has been transformed. It could possibly be argued that Wirtz is commonly doing his job, however the different attackers are merely not doing theirs.
Maybe the obvious instance of this got here in Liverpool’s defeat by Chelsea in October. Wirtz produced a beautiful flicked cross, at full dash, to create an opportunity for Mohamed Salah, however Salah failed to complete. It might have been one of many assists of the season.
There have been related issues in video games in opposition to Galatasaray, when he created huge alternatives for Alexander Isak and Conor Bradley, and in opposition to Madrid final week when he arrange Dominik Szoboszlai for a missed likelihood.
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These moments have supplied sufficient glimpses of Wirtz’s expertise to show he’s a participant of huge inventive potential. Definitely, there’s a £116m participant in there someplace. The query for Liverpool is how lengthy it’s going to take for him to indicate that potential on a constant foundation within the Premier League, and what modifications should be made to permit him to do it.
