Empire of the Kop
·4 Juni 2025
What Julian Nagelsmann said about Florian Wirtz in Germany training will delight Liverpool fans

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Yahoo sportsEmpire of the Kop
·4 Juni 2025
Julian Nagelsmann has praised the training ground attitude of Florian Wirtz amid the player’s proposed transfer to Liverpool.
The Bayer Leverkusen star is with the Germany squad as they strive for UEFA Nations League glory this week, with the host nation taking on Portugal in the first semi-final tonight.
The 22-year-old is reportedly nearing a move to Anfield, with Fabrizio Romano claiming on Tuesday that the deal is ‘almost closed’ for the playmaker to become the Reds’ club-record signing.
Nagelsmann has been speaking about Wirtz in the lead-up to Germany’s clash against Diogo Jota and co in Munich, and he’s commended the player for not showing any signs of being distracted by a potentially career-defining move to England.
The Nationalmannschaft head coach said (via Daily Express): “Flo will play [against Portugal]. I don’t sense any fear of injury or anything with him. He’s a competitor who wants to play and be successful with us.
“I didn’t notice that the situation was bothering him. I think it’s perfectly normal for every player, coach, whatever, to have one or two thoughts when a transfer is imminent. I think that’s part of it.”
(Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)
We imagine that Liverpool fans will be quite pleased to hear Nagelsmann saying that Wirtz has been laser-focused on the task at hand in Germany training, with that being a sign that the 22-year-old doesn’t easily let external issues affect his on-field performance.
Despite German outlet Bild warning that an injury on international duty could see his coveted move to Anfield collapse, he’s looked wonderfully effervescent in preparations for the UEFA Nations League finals, not least in scoring a stunning goal in training earlier this week.
There’ll inevitably be plenty of attention on the Leverkusen star in the match against Portugal later, when he’ll be striving to add to his tally of six goals for his country, and a standout performance in Munich would further underline his ability to excel against high-calibre opposition in big games.
We expect a lot of Liverpool fans to be tuning in tonight to see Wirtz in action, and hopeully the playmaker can give us an appetising taster of what might be to come at Anfield if – fingers crossed – his transfer is completed in the near future.