3 hours ago
2
Liverpool attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz has been criticized in some quarters since his move to Anfield this summer — but the verdict in Germany is clear.
Moving to the Premier League for a fee of around $157 million (£116 million), the belief in Wirtz's homeland is that he will come good at Liverpool sooner rather than later. Quite simply, he is too talented not to.
"The boy is hard-working, shows energy on and off the pitch," German teammate David Raum said this week. "He was one of the players on the pitch the longest again today. We believe in the boy, and we’re building him up here. But he knows what he’s capable of."
Germany legends Bastian Schweinsteiger and Philipp Lahm are also in agreement about Wirtz after the 22-year-old's slow-ish start to life on Merseyside.
"We have to give the players a bit of time," Schweinsteiger said, via RTL. "Especially when you move from the Bundesliga to the Premier League, you also have to adjust a bit.
"I've experienced that myself. He will delight us all in the future. Florian Wirtz is a fantastic footballer, a great character. We should be happy that we have such a player in Germany."
"I'm not worried about Florian Wirtz at all because he's such an outstanding, brilliant player who simply makes his teammates better," Lahm added.
"Quality and class always prevail, and that will absolutely be the case with Florian Wirtz."
Last month, Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said Wirtz would have been better off signing for the Bundesliga giant rather than moving to England.
"From a club representative’s perspective, I can understand the statement about one of Germany’s best players if he didn’t join his own club and we shed a tear for him," DFB managing director Andreas Rettig responded.
This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
"One thing is clear: Florian will prevail at Liverpool; there’s no debate about that. With a player of his quality, no one can seriously say he won’t prevail."
Germany will play Northern Ireland and Luxembourg this week in World Cup qualifying. Wirtz scored against the former in the last international break and will hope to repeat the trick. Liverpool returns to action in 11 days against Manchester United.
Liverpool.com says: Wirtz is too good not to be a special player for Liverpool once he gets up to speed. Right now, he is not only getting used to the pace of the English game, but also has players around him like Alexander Isak and Mohamed Salah who are not at their peak.
English (US) ·