Paul Merson has claimed that Liverpool can no longer ‘wait on’ one player to truly take flight at Anfield, despite him being a ‘special’ talent.
In June of last year, Florian Wirtz became the Reds’ first £100m+ signing upon his headline-grabbing arrival from Bayer Leverkusen, although his first season in English football would be a disappointing one as the playmaker managed just seven goals in 49 appearances.
The 23-year-old was excellent in the win over Atletico Madrid last week but struggled to make any discernible impact in the goalless draw against Fulham on Saturday.
In his latest column for Sky Sports, Merson claimed that Liverpool can no longer afford to be patient with the Germany international, believing that any honeymoon or adapation period has well and truly elapsed.
The pundit wrote: ‘I don’t know how long they can wait on Florian Wirtz. I’m a big fan of him. I think he’s a special player but it isn’t working. It just isn’t working. I don’t know how long they can wait.’
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Few players in the Premier League seem to divide opinion as much as Liverpool’s number 7. His backers insist that he’s a technical genius who unfairly gets a lot of bad press; his critics are convinced that he just doesn’t have what it takes to succeed in the English top flight.
As ever, the truth lies somewhere in between. Wirtz has shown how good he can be for the Reds when operating at his best, but unfortunately we haven’t seen that often enough from him, and the discrepancy in his last two performances sum up how enigmatic his Anfield career has been thus far.
Liverpool Echo reporter Ian Doyle gave him a lowly 5/10 in his post-match ratings from the Fulham game, opining that ‘too much of his passing was off radar’ and that there were ‘far too many nearly things’ from the 23-year-old.
The German’s numbers from that match weren’t terrible – as per Sofascore, he recorded two key passes and had a passing success of 83% – and he wasn’t helped by the midfield duo of Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch not finding him in the number 10 position often enough.
Wirtz at LFC remains a conundrum – at times it feels as though the setup of the team isn’t getting the best out of him, but fans and pundits are also justified in expecting more from a player of his quality and transfer fee.
The caveat of adapting to English football may have applied last season, but it won’t wash for this campaign. Let’s hope we see the best of this brilliantly talented footballer on a more consistent basis in the coming weeks and months.
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Our team is so wrongbalanced. Three playmakers in midfield!!! Its not working and if Iraola wants to be a success. He must learn. At Klopp reign, we played against the Lester opponents keeping the ball. And high press only against best teams. No team can press high every game.
Wirtz is play making winger. Look at Ryan Cherki at City…
Why was the midfield that won the premier league broken up to accommodate wirtz. We’ve gone backwards ever since. From a successful 433, to 4231 which leaves gaps everywhere in midfield.
Gravenberch to protect the defence, Alexis mac allister and szoboszlai further forward.
Szoboszlai who was our best player last season has been nullified since Iraola put him in front of the defence. He was better at right back.
Wirtz needs to be dropped, play him only as backup on the left from the subs bench. Get rid of 4231.
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