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Florian Wirtz's father and agent, Hans, has asserted that his son harbours no regrets over his move to Liverpool, despite a somewhat sluggish start at Anfield.
The German prodigy was snapped up by the Reds in a deal potentially worth $152 million (£116 million) from Bayer Leverkusen last summer, with Liverpool fending off interest from footballing giants such as Bayern Munich and Manchester City.
However, the 22-year-old is yet to make a significant impact on the Premier League, having been relegated to the bench for recent matches against Everton, Chelsea, Manchester United and Aston Villa. To date, Wirtz has donned the Liverpool jersey 16 times, providing three assists, with his standout performances being in the Champions League.
Despite the young German international's failure to justify his hefty price tag or replicate the dazzling form he displayed at Leverkusen, which earned him his ticket to Anfield, his performances have inevitably come under increasing scrutiny.
Nevertheless, Wirtz Snr. remains unfazed by the criticism levelled at his son, maintaining that the German international is performing well for Liverpool, despite the dearth of goals and assists. "I only take the criticism from the former internationals in passing," he shared with the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger.
"Florian is a young man who wants to prove himself in a new environment. Less than a third of the season has been played. So far, everything is going as expected; it's a completely normal settling-in process, entirely independent of any transfer fee.
"And if you look at the statistics more closely, you can see that Florian's stats regarding his involvement in the game are already quite good; only assists and goals are still pending." He added: "We all really enjoyed our time in Leverkusen. Whenever I pass the BayArena, I always feel a little nostalgic. But that's just my personal feeling.
"Florian consciously took a step to become an even better footballer. And he doesn't regret it at all. He's doing well in Liverpool, he looks forward to every training session, and he's settled in with the team. We're 100 percent satisfied with how things are going so far."
Wirtz Snr. had previously backed his son's beginning to life at Liverpool earlier this month when speaking to Bild. Whilst he acknowledged there was scope for enhancement, he also maintained that Wirtz had adapted well to life at Anfield.
"My thought from the very beginning was to wait and see how the first ten league games went," he stated. "We and Florian are perfectly happy with that. The incredible speed, the back and forth, that was very impressive for the first few games. The distances covered and the speed were significantly greater.
"The style of play is sometimes enormously different because it doesn't seem as organised, but rather more focused on pace. I think the league table clearly shows that there's still room for improvement in this football machine.
"But the mechanics will sort that out. I hope he's such a good player that he can adapt to the demands there and that he enjoys it just as much as he did in the Bundesliga. He has settled in well with the team and that his teammates certainly recognise his quality.
"It was exciting for him to join a team that had certainly grown and had added one or two new players besides himself. And all of them were of a corresponding quality. All of that was quite exciting for him."
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