Florian Wirtz has opened up about his Liverpool journey so far when discussing his start to life on Merseyside via the Reds YouTube channel.
Arne Slot didn’t ring the wholesale changes in the FA Cup against Wolverhampton Wanderers like many would have anticipated, with senior stalwarts such as Virgil Van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, and Dominik Szoboszlai all selected, despite the congested fixture list.
Yet, it would be the changed players that did come into the XI who would steal the limelight, as Andy Robertson’s electric goal and assist were crucial in handing the visitors a straightforward 3-1 victory.
Moreover, Rio Nguhoma stood out so much, with his hard-to-predict twists and turns against Rob Edwards’ bamboozled hosts, that he could be in Slot’s first team plans heading back into Champions League and Premier League action.
Slot would have also been pleased to have Wirtz back amongst these first-team options for this potentially tricky Cup tie, with the exciting playmaker given a late run-out after suffering from a back injury.
The German playmaker has opened up about the start of his up-and-down Liverpool journey, when speaking on the Reds Roundtable, over on the Premier League side’s YouTube channel, as he now tries to push those injury difficulties firmly to one side.
Jeremie Frimpong, Wirtz, and Giorgi Mamardashvili all sat down for a long discussion about several Liverpool-based topics, including talk surrounding the ex-Bayer Leverkusen midfielder settling into life in England.
From the minute Liverpool was interested, Wirtz was jumping at the chance to leave the BayArena behind, for a fresh challenge with Slot’s Premier League title winners.
He said: “”Liverpool was the first club who really came to me and tried to speak and convince me to join a club also with 100% commitment… and it felt 100% right.”
While it felt 100% right when joining, it hasn’t been all smooth sailing for the £116m ace since swapping Germany for Merseyside, with poor performances towards the start of his Liverpool journey, making him an easy target for abuse.
Wirtz further touched upon his mental strength during the discussion, as well, as he has now come out the other side of those anonymous displays with six goals and eight assists for the season.
He stated: “What I did was just to make myself like strong in the head… just to bring myself in the best position to be fit on the pitch, and that helped also.”
Wirtz will surely fancy his chances of making an impact during Liverpool’s Champions League tie with Galatasaray later on, alongside his guest on the discussion in Mamardashvili, who is set to start after Alisson’s late omission.
After all, with a stunning career tally of seven goals and four assists under his belt in Europe’s elite competition, he could prove to be a crucial difference-maker in Istanbul.