Arsene Wenger aims damning accusation at Liverpool after Florian Wirtz transfer

Arsene Wenger claimed that one of the conditions of Florian Wirtz choosing to join Liverpool was that he was given assurances that he would play in a central position.

Bayern Munich was interested in signing Wirtz during the summer transfer window, so it was somewhat surprising when it emerged that he had chosen to move to Anfield, considering Bayern's track record of hoovering up the best German talent.

Wirtz has experienced a slow start to his Liverpool career, and found himself out of the starting line-up when Liverpool played Aston Villa over the weekend. Liverpool won that game 2-0, ending a run of four successive Premier League losses, but Wirtz was restored to the team for the Champions League game against Real Madrid on Tuesday.

Rather than breaking up the midfield trio that did so well against Villa, Slot chose to start Wirtz on the left wing ahead of Cody Gakpo.

Arsene Wenger addressed that decision prior to kick-off, and suggested that Wirtz wouldn't have been happy with being asked to play on the wing.

"Wirtz had the chance between Munich and Liverpool," Wenger said on beIN Sports. "He said to Liverpool, 'I'll come to you if I play number 10 — I do not want to play wide.'

"To get him, Liverpool said OK [to Wirtz's request]. So they destroyed their midfield, because their midfield was Gravenberch, Mac Allister and Szoboszlai.

"To play Wirtz, they took Szoboszlai out, and then what did they do against Aston Villa? They went back to their normal midfield of last year. And tonight, they've brought Wirtz back but he will play on the side.

"Because the manager has said [to Wirtz], 'if you want to play a game, you have to play wide, because I don't want to disturb the midfield.' That will be interesting to see."

Wirtz almost claimed an assist as Liverpool recorded a 1-0 win over Madrid, but Dominik Szoboszlai was thwarted by Thibaut Courtois after the German had played his teammate in on goal.

The 22-year-old received a standing ovation as he left the field during the second half after showing his quality on the night.

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