Liverpool might not yet be back to their best, but Florian Wirtz is looking better with each passing week.
The German has five goal involvements in his last six for the Reds, finally showing himself as the final-third killer he was at Bayer Leverkusen.
Arne Slot is figuring out how to use the £116 million signing in a way that doesn’t mess up the dynamic of the midfield, and Wirtz’s importance to Liverpool is growing.
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Florian Wirtz of Liverpool celebrates after scoring a goal to make it 2-0 during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Anfield
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images
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Liverpool will be delighted he chose to join last summer — he easily could have ended up with another European giant. Some people wouldn’t have been happy about that.
Robert Andrich pleaded with Florian Wirtz to snub Bayern Munich
Robert Andrich is now the captain of Leverkusen and was a teammate of Wirtz during that famous 2023/24 invincible season.
The unbeaten run will go down in history, but even just winning the Bundesliga is a monumental achievement — Bayern Munich are the dominant force in Germany.
That’s why Andrich was so desperate for Wirtz to try a challenge abroad.
Robert Andrich and Florian Wirtz playing for Bayer Leverkusen
Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images
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As he explained on the Spielmacher podcast: ““Please don’t go to Bayern. I honestly thought he’d go there [to Bayern]. I told him at some point, ‘Please don’t do it. Don’t do this to us.’
“You can say that for German football, we need German talents to stay here – but in the end there’s only Bayern Munich at the very top when we talk about quality like Flo’s.
“I wanted him to go abroad. I told the Bayern guys that, too. I was happy for him that he took the step. I wouldn’t have thought he’d dare to go abroad so soon.”
It was a deviation from the norm seeing one of Germany’s top young talents turn down Bayern and come to the Premier League. In his first few months at Anfield, there was no shortage of doubters.
But Wirtz has come good.
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Hugo Ekitike smiles after Eintracht Frankfurt win. Kenny Dalglish on the pitch for Liverpool FC v Wolverhampton Wanderers - Premier League
Credit: Liverpool FC/James Baylis/AMA/Getty Images
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Arne Slot needs to run the attack through Florian Wirtz
Maybe it’s an obvious point, but I’ll make it anyway.
Wirtz and Ekitike were special against Barnsley. Before their eye-watering link-up, Liverpool were struggling to play through the League One side.
When you spend that much money on a player who doesn’t fit into the system that was successful last season, you change the system.
Playmaking is the 22-year-old’s bread and butter. And you have three world-class talents in the front line — Isak, Ekitike and Salah — who can feed off his incisive passes.
Slot has shown signs of struggle in relation to getting the best out of his players this season. He’s started to figure it out with Wirtz, and he needs to stick with it now.
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