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Florian Wirtz has experienced a challenging beginning to his Liverpool career since arriving from Bayer Leverkusen.
The Reds' playmaker sealed his switch to Anfield in the summer transfer window for an upfront fee of $135 million (£100M), with a further $22M (£16M) potentially available in add-ons, which would make him the second most expensive Premier League purchase of all time.
Wirtz's arrival at Liverpool has resulted in significant scrutiny of his displays, with plenty of onlookers left not too impressed with his start to life at Anfield. Jamie Carragher is among a number of pundits who have shared their views on the Germany international.
"There's a few problems there that he's [Arne Slot] got to fix - and it'll now be really interesting how he goes about it because he's spent a lot of money on certain players," Carragher told CBS Sports last week.
"But right now, I don't think the balance of the team is right, and the obvious one that stands out is Florian Wirtz.
"He's just not at the races at all.
"He's a young boy coming into a new league. He's got plenty of time to go as a Liverpool player.
"But, right now, I think he needs to come out of the team, Liverpool get back to what they were last season - and then go from there and try and build some confidence and build some defensive solidity because right now, it just looks a mess."
The 22-year-old has yet to find the net since his switch to Anfield and was relegated to the substitutes' bench for the Premier League defeat against Chelsea at the weekend.
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Slot subsequently introduced Wirtz into the match at the break when the playmaker came on for Conor Bradley at half-time. Despite a dearth of goals and assists, Wirtz's market value remains notably high.
The CIES Football Observatory estimates Wirtz's worth to be between €163M ($191M) and €189M ($222M). This is significantly more than the total fee Liverpool has agreed to pay Leverkusen - and it hasn't decreased during the playmaker's tenure at Anfield.
Liverpool's next Premier League fixture isn't until October 19 when it hosts fierce rival Manchester United at Anfield. It's yet to be determined if Wirtz will return to the starting line-up for the showdown against the Red Devils, where the Reds are eager to halt a streak of three consecutive losses in all competitions.
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can read the original story in the Liverpool ECHO by clicking here.
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