Former Germany skipper Lothar Matthaus has hinted that Chelsea could be a potential home for Liverpool midfielder Florian Wirtz, who would link up with ex-Bayer Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso. The 65-year-old made the claims in his Sky Germany column after Liverpool lost 3-0 to Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday.
Wirtz joined Liverpool from Leverkusen in 2025 in a deal worth up to £116m, and the 23-year-old is under contract until June 2030. He has no goals and one assist in six Premier League games this season. Matthaus feels Wirtz is more comfortable playing for Germany than he is for Anfield, and he wrote in his column for Sky Germany:
“I’ve recently been impressed by Florian Wirtz when he plays for the German national team. His teammates look to find him on the ball there, just as they used to at Leverkusen. At Liverpool, however, the players tend to look for other options, such as Szoboszlai alongside him or Isak ahead of him.”
Matthaus went on to respond to the backlash at the 3-0 loss to City:
“According to my latest information from England, people have generally been satisfied with his performances recently. However, when you are an expensive, game-changing player and lose a big match 3-0, you can expect plenty of backlash from the media.
Alonso, who signed on a four-year deal to manage Chelsea, won the Bundesliga unbeaten and the DFB-Pokal with Leverkusen and Wirtz in 2023-24. The link between Wirtz and the Blues was dismissed by Fabrizio Romano, who insisted they were not targeting such a player.
Xabi Alonso Praises Jordan Henderson After Chelsea’s 5-1 Win Over Bournemouth
Xabi Alonso has praised Jordan Henderson after the 36-year-old struck twice in Chelsea’s 5-1 victory over Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. The win ended the visitors’ three-game winless run in the league, which included a 3-0 defeat at Brentford.
Henderson opened the scoring after 65 seconds and added a 25-yard free-kick in the 70th minute, as Joao Pedro also scored twice and Morgan Rogers once. It was the earliest-ever 2-0 lead for Blues in a Premier League game. The former Liverpool captain joined from Brentford for free in August, and Alonso said of his display:
“We signed him for everything and if he’s able to score two beauties, as today, we are more than happy for him, but apart from the goals, he’s done many, many good things.”
Alonso added the display was very complete and said Blues dominated most of the game. Moises Caicedo started his first league game of the season, and his workload was eased following a calf issue.