Florian Wirtz and Arne Slot have a problem that no Liverpool manager has ever had to this degree and one that has wreaked havoc on the best players and managers at other clubs.
Until now, Liverpool had never paid a truly otherwordly sum for a player they liked. The £75m paid for van Dijk was quickly called a bargain while the £85m paid for Darwin Nunez quickly became an anchor and the main reason why he had to leave.
When clubs pay truly massive sums for players, they show the world how much they believe in the player and how important they consider the investment to be.
Liverpool agreed to pay £116m for Wirtz and while they ensured Manchester City and Bayern Munich didn’t get him, they now need to protect and grow him.
It’s a big job.
The 22-year-old German international is a top, top player already with 71 goals and 72 assists at senior level and there is no doubt he will make his mark on the Premier League but club outsiders have seen his first two games at Liverpool as a failure.
This is unfair. Not only because he remains a young man finding his feet in a new country but because the criticism is only being made so early because he could cost the Reds £116m if all add-ons are triggered.
His first Premier League game against Bournemouth saw a 75% pass accuracy, but against Newcastle he was elite. 97% of his passes – 25 of 26 – found their mark and he was a constant release of pressure in a game that had Newcastle players steaming around the field.
What are the major concerns around Wirtz after his understated start to Liverpool career?
Wirtz has been predictably free to roam across the pitch but still features most on the inside left where he regularly finds creative pockets to sit in and ultimately has proven the most regular escape route out of pressure deep in Liverpool’s own half.
Yet, he hasn’t scored or assisted.
This is a minor issue for now given Liverpool have scored seven goals in two games, including finding a 100th-minute winner from a 16-year-old in Rio Ngumoha.
Liverpool’s big issue at the moment is that Wirtz – and because of midfield absenteeism this season – the engine room has been inconsistent, imbalanced and leaking goals.
The other issue with Wirtz at the moment is that Liverpool have never had to manage this level of financial pressure on a signing. It destroyed Nunez and any chance he had at Anfield but Liverpool simply need to treat Wirtz as if he were any other 22-year-old player.
He needs time, patience and trust to find his feet in England. Wirtz, by all accounts in Germany, is a fiercely hard-working and focused individual so there shouldn’t any alarms going off right now.
Former Liverpool star Steve Nicol is worried about how Wirtz fits into the Liverpool midfield.
“He may have to find a different spot for this guy. Right now, he isn’t getting on the ball, which is what he was brought in to do, but from a defensive point of view there is no question that Liverpool are struggling big time,” Nicol told ESPN.
Nicol continued: “So, he may have to move him out wide and use Szoboszlai, Mac Allister and Gravenberch as the midfield three, because right now the back four cannot defend as a unit.
“So they might have to change the way they play, move Wirtz out to a wide area in my opinion, but then at the same time, Gakpo doesn’t deserve to be dropped. Are you going to drop Gakpo just because you’ve paid £100m for Florian Wirtz? It’s a tough decision.”
Slot has shown time and time again since joining Liverpool just a year ago that he’s a man of solutions. Give him and Wirtz time and these “concerns” will look irrelevant a year from now as well.