Florian Wirtz has been the man making the most headlines in the Premier League over the past week or so.
Indeed, Wirtz is set to sign for Liverpool in the coming days in what would be a British-record transfer.
Of course, this isn’t the first time a high-profile German attacking midfielder has landed in the Premier League.
Cast your mind back to 2013 and you’ll remember Mesut Ozil arriving at Arsenal in a club-record deal that sent shockwaves across the Premier League.
Ozil and Wirtz are bound to be compared if the Bayer Leverkusen star heads to Liverpool, and speaking to Ground Hopper FC on TikTok, Wesley Sneijder has already made a claim about the two players.
Photo by Reinaldo Coddou H. - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images
Photo by Reinaldo Coddou H. – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images
Wesley Sneijder picks Mesut Ozil over Florian Wirtz
Sneijder was tasked with comparing some of the best attacking midfield players of recent times.
The Dutchman was a very talented player himself in his day, and he’s now shared his verdict on some of his peers.
Sneijder was asked to pick between Mesut Ozil and Florian Wirtz, and he gave an interesting answer here.
Sneijder ultimately picked Ozil over Wirtz, and it’s not hard to understand why.
Ozil has the benefit of having his entire career behind him with multiple trophies and even a World Cup win to show for it.
Meanwhile, Wirtz is still only 22 years old, and he has a long way ahead of him.
Florian Wirtz compared to Mesut Ozil aged 22
Wirtz looks like a star, but it has to be said that Ozil was just on another level to the Bayer Leverkusen ace.
Indeed, even at the age of 22, Ozil was ripping up La Liga with Real Madrid, and while Wirtz has been brilliant in Germany, he’s not quite at this level yet.
Florian Wirtz 2024/25 Mesut Ozil 2010/11*
31 Games 36
10 Goals 6
12 Assists 19
*The season Mesut Ozil turned 22, league stats only
What is evident so far from Wirtz’s career is that he’s more of a goal threat than Ozil ever was, but in terms of assists, Ozil was just on another level.
Sadly, Ozil declined as he aged and Arsenal ultimately ended up releasing him from his contract early, but, in his prime, Ozil was one of the best players in the world.
If Wirtz can achieve half of what Ozil did in his career, he’ll go down as a legend of the game.