Liverpool welcome NEW £116m forward after international window | OneFootball

Liverpool are back in action this weekend against Nottingham Forest in the Premier League.

The title-holders went into the November international window in indifferent form.

Their loss to Manchester City - 3-0 at the Etihad - came on the back of two very good wins against Aston Villa and Real Madrid. The club have now lost seven of their last 10 games in all competitions.

However, the international break was a good chance to reset and for some players it was an opportunity to play themselves into a bit of form.

And no one in Liverpool red enjoyed a better international window than Florian Wirtz.

The 22-year-old went to international duty with Germany on the back of some very supportive words from his manager Julian Nagelsmann.

Wirtz steps up when Germany need him

He blamed Liverpool’s forwards for Wirtz’s poor output at club level - a dubious claim but one which will have no doubt filled the £116m with confidence that he was doing everything right.

No one is going to mistake Luxembourg and Slovakia for world-class teams - but Germany still had work to do to secure qualification to the FIFA World Cup in those two games.

Wirtz stood up with two incredible performances. He was the best player on the pitch versus Luxembourg last week - creating chance after chance in a 2-0 victory.

But he stepped it up even more for the game against Slovakia earlier this week.

Wirtz excels once again from the left

Germany won 6-0 with Wirtz laying on two assists for Leroy Sane. It was perhaps his best outing of the season and a true reminder to the naysayers of his qualities.

He must now take that form back into his club career - starting this weekend versus Forest. Crucially, he must be given the platform to do so from the left.

Although not a chalk-on-your-boots winger in the traditional sense, it’s beyond doubt that Wirtz does his best work in the left “half space”.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Florian Wirtz (@flowirtz)

Things have changed massively for Florian Wirtz

This is quite a change of course from the No10 role he was promised at Anfield by Arne Slot. But situations change. Liverpool require Dominik Szoboszlai in one of those advanced midfield positions - and Wirtz is going to be needed from the left for now.

He can be a lot more involved in the game as the left-sided attacking option and Slot should not decline the chance to use him there.

There were signs before the international break that the Liverpool head coach was coming to this conclusion - and don’t discount how hard it will be to roll back on the tactical plan he gave to Wirtz in his initial sales pitch.

Maybe one day he can come back into the fray as the central playmaker but the last couple of fixtures have settled the issue. Right now Wirtz is the best left winger Liverpool have got and it’s time he played there once again.