2 hours ago
23
Jamie Carragher believes Florian Wirtz’s slow start at Liverpool is not all his fault and has backed the player to improve once he gets fully up to speed with the physical demands of the English game.
Wirtz joined Liverpool in the summer for a fee of up to £116million ($156M), a figure that was the Reds’ record signing until Alexander Isak’s arrival from Newcastle United at the end of the window.
Unsurprisingly, with such a significant transfer fee, his early performances have been heavily scrutinized, and Wirtz has not immediately adapted to his new surroundings. No goals or assists from seven league and European matches underlines that.
But Carragher feels the problem is Wirtz’s lack of touches compared to his time at Bayer Leverkusen. The ex-defender highlighted a stat that Liverpool’s no.7 is averaging 64 touches per 90 this season, compared to 92 and 87 in the previous two campaigns.
“I think we should be analyzing someone who's cost that money, he's coming as a renowned star; Bundesliga player of the year two seasons running, won the Bundesliga, not with Bayern Munich, with Bayer Leverkusen, a seasoned international with Germany,” Carragher opined on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.
“I think it's fair to say he hasn't been great for Liverpool so far, but also I don't think Liverpool have been great to him so far. Obviously, they've got to come together and try and make it work as best as they possibly can."
“It’s faster, people are on top of him more, it's more physical,” he added, on the Premier League. “And he's just a young boy, he is trying to get to the demands of the league. There's no doubt about that.”
Carragher also claimed that another of Liverpool’s slow starters may have had an impact on Wirtz.
“I think another problem for Liverpool and for Wirtz is that [Alexis] Mac Allister hasn’t been at his best.
“I think he’s the guy who could feed him and get him the ball between the lines.”
Mac Allister is yet to play 90 minutes for Liverpool this season and has struggled to get up to speed after a disjointed summer.
The Argentinian missed the last two matches of 2024/25 season due to a hip injury and two international fixtures in June. As a result, he began pre-season later than his Liverpool teammates.
“We need to build him after having such a poor pre-season, he missed out two or three months and the first few weeks of pre-season,” Slot said last week when asked about the midfielder’s fitness levels.
English (US) ·