Former coach explains the one thing Arne Slot will LOVE about Florian Wirtz | OneFootball

It's hard to believe that Liverpool are closing in on signing Florian Wirtz.

This isn't a fantasy or one of our Football Manager saves, this is real life. One of the biggest talents in world football is heading to Anfield to play under Arne Slot's mighty Reds.

Shop the LFC Store

The new LFC x Air Max range 🔥

LFC x Nike Air Max

Buy Now

LFC Retro Shirts

Buy Now

LFC Kits

Buy Now

LFC Nike Training

Buy Now

There were times over the course of the last two decades when this seemed like a figment of our imagination. At times Liverpool not only could not attract the best players in the world but they struggled to hold onto their very own superstars.

Things have changed now. Liverpool are one of the best clubs in world football. They cruised to the Premier League title this season, and might have won the Champions League too if it were not for a narrow penalty shoot-out defeat to Paris Saint Germain, who ended up winning the competition.

Now the club is looking to bolster its squad from a position of strength and Wirtz is the crème de la crème of the lot.

He's a world-class footballer, who can anticipate what happens in the game before anyone else.

But most importantly he's also an extremely hard-working footballer. Back in 2021 I had the opportunity to interview one of his former coaches, Markus Daun, who worked with him at Cologne.

There was one thing that really stood-out to me about that interview. Daun obviously waxed lyrical about Wirtz's qualities on the pitch, his ability to predict and be two or three steps ahead of his opponents.

For me though it was Wirtz's desire to work-hard and constantly improve that stuck with me.

"This boy wanted only one thing all his life: to be a professional footballer," Daun said.

"Football is his life. It was a great experience to watch him in training, how he wanted to improve day by day. We talked a lot about it, we even argued, because we both wanted to achieve the same goal. In the end, we always agreed that he would become a professional footballer, and that is why we both, but especially he, did everything."

This is a player with an infectious love for the game and Wirtz shows that in his perpetual running and energy on the pitch.

"He has incredibly good athletic qualities, extreme endurance, and good conditioning. I think this is the basis of his ability and strength to run (i.e. the fact that he is able and willing to run a lot in a match), which he always performs week after week," Daun continued.

"This was also the case when he was younger. Even then - in terms of running – he performed the same, and he was already a professional at it.

"He never wanted to lose a single match, not even in training. He always wanted to keep training, when I said training was over, he still wanted to keep going. You could say he was unstoppable."

Just listen to these words. Doesn't this sound like a player perfectly made for Slot's football. If we know one thing, Slot loves players who work hard off the ball and can run a lot.

Wirtz is exactly that type of player and that's why Slot will absolutely love that quality about him.

It's like the 22-year-old was made in a lab for this Liverpool team. This is why the Reds are willing to splash the cash on him. He's everything you want in a player and more.