Florian Wirtz has received criticism for his performances over the past year since moving to Liverpool, with Jurgen Klopp defending the star and Andoni Iraola giving his thoughts on his situation.
Florian Wirtz of Liverpool in action during the Premier League 2026/27 match between Liverpool FC and Fulham
Andoni Iraola has been discussing Florian Wirtz(Image: (Photo by James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images))
Liverpool boss Andoni Iraola has claimed that Florian Wirtz must be judged in the same context as everyone else, after the playmaker has received criticism for his start to life at Anfield.
Wirtz joined Liverpool last summer for an initial $133 million fee, with belief that he could hit similar heights to what he achieved for Bayer Leverkusen before in his career.
However, he struggled to adapt to the Premier League the first season around, picking up just five goals and four assists, with many fans hoping that he would take more games by storm than he ended up doing.
After a difficult campaign, some of his struggles translated to the World Cup, as an early exit for Germany brought about plenty of criticism, despite picking up three assists in four games.
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More recently, Toni Kroos swiped at the star, suggesting he didn't do enough at the World Cup, leading to Klopp defending the star after naming him in the latest Germany squad.
The new national team coach claimed that expectations should shift from expecting "special moments" all the time from the playmaker, and instead to focus on how he is helping the team win games.
That has led to a slight reframing of what Wirtz can provide the team moving forward, with so much of the focus on pure output such as goals and assists, rather than what the player is capable of doing for the full 90 minutes.
While Klopp will look to get the most out of him on the international stage, it's the domestic stage where he will have more time to shine, with Iraola making his own decisions on how to judge the star's input.
Florian Wirtz joined Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen last summer
Florian Wirtz joined Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen last summer(Image: Photo by Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)
Ahead of his return to Bournemouth, the head coach was questioned about those comments from Klopp and the pressure surrounding Wirtz, to which he claimed: "He should be judged like everyone else, he works.
"How does the team play when you are on the pitch? I am very happy with Florian, he understands what we need in every aspect of the game. We want to add assists and goals, but he is helping us in all areas."
It's a similar stance to Klopp, though there is an acknowledgement that Liverpool wants to get more output from the star player to help the team progress.
It remains to be seen whether Iraola can do that, with the first few games of his tenure suggesting that more work is needed to get Wirtz at the centre of more matches moving forward.
For now, it's clear that Liverpool needs to win games, and if Wirtz is contributing in many different ways to that, then there will be few complaints. However, with the pressure that comes from such a huge price tag, there may naturally be more questions than answers if he cannot add more individual moments of magic.