Wirtz would be the dream midfield signing this summer but City face huge competition from Bayern Munich to sign him.Wirtz would be the dream midfield signing this summer but City face huge competition from Bayern Munich to sign him.
Wirtz would be the dream midfield signing this summer but City face huge competition from Bayern Munich to sign him. | Getty Images
Liverpool are confident of tying up a deal for Florian Wirtz and fans will love what he has said about what to do when the going gets tough.
Liverpool have wasted no time in moving on from securing the Premier League title with strengthening the squad a primary concern.
The mercurial playmaker inspired Bayer Leverkusen to the Bundesliga in 2023/24 but it is now time for the 22-year old to move on.
Florian Wirtz on hard work and graft that could see him become a Liverpool favourite
Liverpool are said to be leading the chase for Wirtz and an interview with the official Bayer Leverkusen website as a fresh-faced teenager gives a fascinating insight into the Germany international’s mindset: There's nothing to be gained from thinking too much about it. You can be sad or dissatisfied but you only get out of a hole through hard work,” Wirtz said when asked about how he handles a dip in form. If the balls bounce away from you and things are going right then you have to find other attributes like battling and stamina to get a grip on the game. It's part of football they go through bad phases. But the best answer is always to carry on."
Every player can have a bad game, it is how they deal with it that matters most. It is a mindset that Jurgen Klopp famously instilled into his sides and one that has continued under Arne Slot. Wins don’t always have to be pretty, sometimes outfighting and outrunning an opponent can be enough to secure victory.
It is that pragmatism that saw Slot and Liverpool succeed when other managers who refused to move away from narrow-minded principles saw their tactics stumble in the Premier League. If Wirtz’s personality is a perfect fit for Liverpool, one thing that maybe isn’t is the man he names as his idol.
Wirtz names role model who might not go down so well with Liverpool fans
Growing up at Leverkusen, Wirtz studied how Arsenal’s Kai Havertz went about his business in training, detailing one particular quality that he looked to emulate: "Of course, Kai is a role model. He gave me a few good tips and I was able to learn a lot above all in training. He was definitely somebody I could look up to. I was particularly impressed with his first contact with the ball and it was better than that than anybody else in the team. That enabled him to take virtually every chance in front of goal and he was able to position himself perfectly to receive good balls."
Havertz has since been shoe-horned into playing as a No.9 by Arsenal but made his name as a goalscoring and creative No.10. There are differences physically, but Wirtz will be hoping that he makes more of an impact in his natural position if he follows his mentors path to the Premier League.
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