Florian Wirtz has not been “screwed over” by Liverpool in the summer, even if he hasn’t played quite the role he was expecting.
That’s according to Mario Basler, speaking to Absolut Fussball. He doesn’t agree with Uli Hoeneß’ recent comments about the Liverpool summer signing.
The Bayern chief was clear about Wirtz earlier this month, insisting that Liverpool had “screwed over” Wirtz when convincing him to join in the summer transfer window.
His claim that Arne Slot had made various promises to Wirtz to get him to join, including that he’d be the number ten. Instead, he’s ended up as the number seven and the team would be built around him. That’s not happened quite yet.
He insisted that he felt sorry for the German, who turned down the likes of Bayern Munich and Manchester City to move to Liverpool this summer. The clear suggestion was that Wirtz had been miss sold by Liverpool during negotiations.
Basler doesn’t agree with that notion, taking a less emotional tone than his former club boss. Instead, he believes there’s been a major lack of adaptation for the former Bayer Leverkusen star.
Liverpool haven’t “screwed over” Wirtz”
“I wouldn’t say that Liverpool ‘screwed over’ Wirtz,” he said.
“(Arne Slot has to) field the best team, field the best players. He (Wirtz) only gets five balls in a half. And if he loses two of them, he gets a bad grade. If we compare Florian to his time at Leverkusen, he’s still a ways off from his best form.
“It’s a different style of football, a different mentality on the island. And you’re scrutinized differently. You’re a foreigner, so you have to play exceptionally well.
“Whether Florian did himself a big favor by going to Liverpool is debatable. It could also have been a mistake. I can’t say whether they made any concessions to him. Uli might know more about that.”