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Florian Wirtz will seal his move to Liverpool this week with Arne Slot being given a warning about the playmaker.
Liverpool are really stringing out the announcement of Florian Wirtz as their newest recruit despite the deal, seemingly, having been agreed for some time.
With 16 goals and 15 assists in 46 appearances for Bayer Leverkusen, it is easy to see why Liverpool are prepared to pay such a big sum of money for a 22-year old, however, Wirtz’s rise to stardom hasn’t been a surprise, it has been only – like his impending move to Merseyside – a matter of time.
Arne Slot told how to manage Florian Wirtz for Liverpool
This is according to his Under-17 coach at Leverkusen Martin Heck, who also has a word of warning for Arne Slot, as told to The Athletic.
Where Wirtz will fit in at Liverpool has been widely discussed, however, according to Heck, Slot should pick his team around Wirtz, not the other way around: “But when anyone asks me, ‘What’s special about Florian Wirtz?’, I say that he has the greatest ambition I’ve ever seen in football from a player, young or old. His will to win.
“You could see that when he was 10 years old, when he was with me at 16 years old and nowadays, too. He can’t stand losing and that’s something he has had from the very beginning.”
“From a coaching perspective, there were challenges, though. The biggest mistake you can make is trying to change a player like him. The main thing I told him was that the game has two directions, and you have to play against the ball as well.
“But you don’t change his movements, you don’t change his style of shooting or passing. It’s more about how you can put him into the team in a way that everybody gets better.”
Have Liverpool been planning Florian Wirtz signing since last summer?
Liverpool have had a long-term plan since last summer when Slot arrived to take over from Jurgen Klopp. The transition couldn’t have gone any better, but there were signs of what recruitment might happen this summer with how the Reds’ boss set his team up.
The Dutch master wasn’t quite putting square pegs in round holes, however, Wirtz is a much better suited option to playing as a No.10 compared to any of the options that were utilised last season.
Slot decided, rather than setting up his team with a system that suited the players at his disposal, to start the process of implementing his game plan straight away – even if he didn’t quite have the right tools.
This summer though, Slot is getting every missing piece of the jigsaw that he needs to complete the puzzle with Wirtz set to provide the ammunition for a new No.9 and ease the burden off the shoulders of Mo Salah.
Several names have been linked but whoever is signed, they will have to learn how to play with Wirtz, not the other way around.
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