Jurgen Klopp has come to the defence of Florian Wirtz, calling him a “once-in-a-century talent” despite the midfielder’s slow start at Liverpool.
Wirtz has played far below the level of a 116 million pound player during his time as a Red so far. He assisted in the Community Shield, but in the nine games since then, has failed to score or assist.
After being given time to prove himself, Arne Slot dropped the German from his side for the 2-1 loss to Chelsea.
Wirtz has since put up a good performance for Germany in a 4-0 victory over Luxembourg, in which the country’s media hailed him, suggesting the problems are Liverpool-centric. Given he starred for Bayer Leverkusen last term, it seems the issue is indeed in adjusting to Liverpool.
But their former boss, Klopp, has stated there is no cause for concern when it comes to Wirtz.
He said: “I don’t have to worry about Florian Wirtz because his quality is so outstanding. Of course, everything is fine, and everyone knows that. The discussion is certainly being blown out of proportion.
“Liverpool have just lost three games in a row – it’s unusual for something like that to happen after such a long time. But it’s also normal in life.
“That’s why these things are discussed. I’ve been in the middle of such discussions long enough now, and I can tell you: nothing could interest people less than the public discussions that are taking place there. So it doesn’t matter, and everything will be fine.”
Klopp also said of the player he described as a “once-in-a-century talent”: “at some point he’ll show that in every game again, as he did at Leverkusen”.
“(Wirtz has) a stable environment at Liverpool, and the club is great in moments like these. If anyone’s worried, you don’t have to! You can stop.”
However, there should still be some concern that Wirtz might not be playing in a role which suits him best.
He is dropping deeper more often at Liverpool than he did with Leverkusen, and in his impressive Germany display, he played on the left flank, so was picking the ball up both higher and wider than he is with the Reds.
At Leverkusen, as the left number 10, he played in a similar role to a left-winger, and to bring out his best, it might be a thought for Liverpool to try him out left rather than stifling him in the middle and having him always be the man to pick the ball up from the deep positions.
