Liverpool star Florian Wirtz next to the club badge
Liverpool star Florian Wirtz has earned rare praise after the win against LASK
Florian Wirtz is a player better suited to performing in Europe than the Premier League after the player received warm praise in the media for his display against Austrian side LASK as Liverpool roared to a 6-3 win – though Paul Scholes has explained why the German will never make it after dropping a painful analogy.
The £116m star has endured a hard time of things since moving to Anfield, with his performances doing little to justify that sizeable outlay and prompting Jamie Carragher to demand his axing from the side and claiming he does not give ‘anywhere near enough’ to Liverpool.
However, after grabbing an assist in the Champions League on Wednesday evening, setting up Bradley Barcola for his second on a night the Frenchman announced his arrival with a hat-trick, the Liverpool-based media, often the player’s biggest critic, have now warmly praised the 23-year-old for his display at the Raiffiesen Arena in Linz.
Giving Wirtz 8/10, the Liverpool Echo’s Ian Doyle waxed lyrical, stating: ‘Far too good for this level of opponent, who didn’t know what to do with the German. Forced several saves and claimed a clever assist for Barcola.’
This is Anfield also gave Wirtz 8/10, writing: ‘There’s always flashes of brilliance with Wirtz, regardless of how critical you want to be with him. The opposition were putty in his hands.
‘There’s no denying Wirtz performs better in Europe due to the tempo and addition of space; it was proven again here big time.’
Anfield Index also dropped an 8/10 review, commenting: ‘The German international was able to offer assists and creativity in a solid outing where movement around him and a far lesser opponent saw his game start to shine. Still needs a goal.’
The Daily Express also went with an 8/10 verdict and stated: ‘Much better from the German, who looked bright and eager to impact the game whenever he got the ball. A lovely assist for Barcola’s second, though his influence did fade in the second half.’
BBC Sport also went with 8/10, with Aadam Patel writing: ‘Much better from the German. Nearly scored a lovely goal and got the assist for Barcola’s second as the pair linked up brilliantly. Too good for LASK.’
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Scholes claims Wirtz is like a boy trying to play men’s football
Despite that, not everyone is enamoured by the German and, speaking before the match in Austria kicked off, Paul Scholes served up what is perhaps the most scathing assessment of the £116m star that we’ve ever seen, comparing him to a schoolboy and making it clear why the German will never succeed in the Premier League.
“Wirtz, we think he is a top-quality player,” Scholes started on The Good, The Bad and The Football. “They paid £100-odd million for him. But does he want it in his head enough to win games of football for Liverpool?
“Is he interested in goals or assists? He seems interested in all the other little bits outside of it, which, to be fair, he isn’t doing that well.
“He looks like a little kid playing men’s football. Wirtz has been the for one year now? It’s just not happening for him.
“And, as Jamie (Carragher) said, ‘Take him out of the team.’ Sometimes, when you are £115m, you have to play every week. But sometimes it’s nice, even from the player’s point of view, to be left out, have a little look, ‘Right, come on.’ It’s like a little kick up the backside for you.
“If you are brought in for that money. You have to be winning games for your team. I think of Frank Lampard; he won his team games of football. By being aggressive. Scoring goals and wanting to score goals every week.
“It doesn’t look like he has that bit of… I don’t think it hurts him enough. See, like De Bruyne. If he didn’t score a goal or make a goal in a game, I think he would be devastated.”
Wirtz certainly continues to prove himself an enigma and, writing before Wednesday’s game, our transfer correspondent, Fraser Fletcher, revealed why Bayern Munich have a growing belief that Wirtz would like to quit Anfield next summer and return to the Bundesliga.
Elsewhere, a controversial pundit has torn the player apart and warned Wirtz could go down as the “biggest waste of money the Premier League has ever seen”.
Bayern Munich believe Florian Wirtz is ready to quit Liverpool and return to Germany – Exclusive
Bayern Munich believe Florian Wirtz is ready to quit Liverpool and return to Germany – Exclusive
Florian Wirtz is ‘biggest waste of money’ in Prem history as pundit destroys Liverpool star
Florian Wirtz is ‘biggest waste of money’ in Prem history as pundit destroys Liverpool star