Wirtz revels in “joy” of playing with Ekitike amid Liverpool duo’s red-hot link-up | OneFootball

Florian Wirtz has said it's a joy to play with Liverpool teammate Hugo Ekitike as the two continue to form a connection at Anfield.

The summer signings have demonstrated an encouraging understanding in recent weeks. Wirtz and Ekitike have directly combined for six goals across all competitions.

For Ekitike, it's already the joint-highest he has combined with a single teammate across his entire career, matching the number of goals scored in combination with former Eintracht Frankfurt teammate Omar Marmoush.

Having arrived as two of the Bundesliga's brightest young talents last summer, Ekitike has made an instant impact at Liverpool, and is the club's leading scorer this season with 15 goals in all competitions.

Wirtz was signed in a then-British record £116m deal from Bayer Leverkusen and has improved from a slow start. He was nominated for January's Player of the Month award in thePremier League.

The on-pitch chemistry between theBundesliga imports has been notable. Aged just 22 and 23 respectively, there are high hopes that the duo can enjoy a long period in tandem at Anfield.

Speaking ahead of Wednesday night's trip to face Sunderland, Wirtz opened up on how much he is enjoying playing alongside Ekitike at Liverpool.

"Yeah, I said it often already that it's really a joy to play with him. We have so many good players in the team. You can see that he's one of the guys you like to watch," Wirtz said toLiverpoolfc.com.

"Even for me, I like to see him on the pitch and in training. It's just fun to combine with him, he gives me a lot of assists already and I just try to help him also to achieve his goals. He's a good friend of mine. We are very close. So yeah, it's just fun to play with him."