Craig Burley has claimed that Liverpool may ‘have to sell’ one player who he believes has been ‘a bit of waste’ during the current campaign.
Nine months ago, the Reds broke their transfer record to sign Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen in a £116m deal which was widely received as a major coup for the Premier League champions, who were riding the crest of a wave from that title triumph.
A rich vein of form saw him net six goals in 10 games after Christmas, but with that streak having gone cold since the start of February, the 22-year-old has found himself subjected to unforgiving scrutiny from some quarters once again.
Speaking after Liverpool’s defeat to Galatasaray on Tuesday, Burley claimed that, since coming to England, the Reds’ number 7 has failed to repeat the qualities which made him a star at Leverkusen.
The pundit said on ESPN FC: “Let’s stop beating around the bushes with Florian Wirtz. I’m fed up. What he did in Germany is what he did in Germany. That’s gone. He’s so lightweight in this Liverpool team, it’s unbelievable. He’s so lacking conviction in the final third, it’s incredible.
“If it’s not goals, where’s the passing? Where’s those dribbling mazy runs he was doing at Leverkusen, beating three or four [players], dropping his shoulder and scoring? Where is it?”
Burley added: “He’s gonna eventually play his best football as a number 10, and if he doesn’t, Liverpool are gonna have to sell him. He’s been a little bit of a waste so far this season.”
While it’s not unreasonable to expect that Wirtz would’ve had more than six goals to show from his first 37 games for the Reds, some of Burley’s criticisms of the playmaker don’t stand up to scrutiny.
As per WhoScored, the 22-year-old has the joint-highest average for dribbles per game in the Premier League among Arne Slot’s squad (1.4), while only two players have averaged more key passes per 90 minutes than his 1.8, so those qualities have certainly not been absent from the German.
As for the accusations of being ‘lightweight’, our number 7 has already sought to address those by putting in extra work outside of team training to maximise his physical readiness for English top-flight football.
Wirtz was ‘wasteful’ (to use James Pearce’s phrasing) in the defeat to Galatasaray on Tuesday, but he was far from the only subdued performer in Istanbul, and the underlying data is there to show that he has been contributing decisively in the final third for Liverpool.
With LFC having invested so heavily in signing the German only last year, Burley’s suggestion that he could be sold so soon after joining is laughable. There’s a lot more yet to come from the 22-year-old at Anfield!
Wirtz has been training and he is more buff now. Wait till Alonso comes in and you can witness how he gets the best out of our number 7.
The performance against Galatasaray summed him up for me. Totally anonymous, did nothing whatsoever, got brushed off the ball countless times. Far too lightweight. The biggest problem with wirtz is he’s in a team that’s got a lightweight midfield. None of our midfielders are good enough without the ball.
Unless you completely change the system with better defensively minded midfielders and play like Alonso did with wirtz in Germany he’s never going to come off. Putting him out wide is a waste.
What did Craig Burley ever do apart from play for Ipswich & Scotland.
