Analysis | What Florian Wirtz will bring to Liverpool | OneFootball

Florian Wirtz is one of the jewels in German football’s crown. Ever since he burst onto the scene with a goal against Bayern Munich, it was destined that he would not only become one of Germany’s most important players but also play for the Rekordmeister. Bayern had monitored and kept in contact with the Wirtz family for many years, and it looked as if their work was going to pay off this summer, and they would be able to combine Jamal Musiala and Wirtz alongside one another at club level.

Then out of nowhere, Liverpool appeared, and within two weeks, one of Germany’s best players is moving to the Premier League champions. The 22-year-old will leave the Bundesliga after five years, where he won the league unbeaten, won the Player of the Season and the DFB-Pokal. What makes Wirtz’s time in the Bundesliga even more impressive is the fact that he spent a large part of 2022 out with an ACL injury, an injury that at the time could have been career-altering, however, the Köln native has just improved year on year since his return, and it is safe to say that he is a future Ballon d’Or winner.

Now, what will Wirtz bring to an already great Liverpool side?

The biggest question mark so far is where Wirtz will actually play for Liverpool. During his time at Leverkusen, Wirtz has mainly been used as an attacking midfielder, playing 159 games in that position. However, it is slightly misleading as under Xabi Alonso, he was used on the left-hand side in a two behind the striker. On top of this, Wirtz has more recently been used as a second striker or a centre-forward when Leverkusen have opted not to play with a recognised striker, with varying success.

Under Alonso, Wirtz has rarely been used as an outright left-winger, but played there for Germany at EURO 2024 and looked awkward at times.

As a whole, looking at the 22-year-old’s shot map from the Bundesliga this season, he prefers playing on the left.

Obviously, this will come down to how head coach Arne Slot plays, but going off the 4-2-3-1 that Liverpool played for the majority of this season, it would be best for Wirtz to play either as the central player behind the striker or on the left with the freedom to cut inside.

What is Wirtz good at?

The answer to this is the inverse of the question: what is Wirtz bad at?, The answer to this is not a lot.

Could he be more clinical? Probably, the miss against Bayern Munich in the 0-0 draw earlier this season springs to mind.

Could his crossing be better? Yes.

At the end of the day, most of these things can still be worked on as he is still only 22. You are mainly buying Wirtz for everything else that he brings, in abundance.

His passing is out of this world and will add a final ball that Liverpool will be lacking after the departure of Trent Alexander-Arnold, and the type of passing ability that Liverpool didn’t even have in the squad when the right-back was there. To back this up, according to FBref, Wirtz leads the league in through balls (26) and goal-creating actions (26), while he also ranks highly in key passes (57, 10th) and passes into the penalty area (65, 3rd).

The 22-year-old also possesses dribbling that is more akin to street football than professional football. In a time where football is so methodical and structured, the way Wirtz plays football is not, and it makes it a joy to watch. It is also effective; the Köln native led the league in take-ons (82) and progressive carries (131) this season.

Where will he fit at Liverpool?

As mentioned, Liverpool doesn’t really have a player that is anything close to Wirtz in their squad in profile, or position-wise, so he will immediately be a great addition.

On top of this, Wirtz is not only a signing for now, but also for the future. From the outside, it looks like the 22-year-old will be the 1B to Mohammed Salah’s 1A in the Liverpool attack when he joins. The fact that they favour opposite sides means they do not have to be overly reliant on one individual, like this season with Salah. However, once the Egyptian retires, leaves, or his output drops, Wirtz will be the main guy when it comes to Liverpool’s attack, similar to how he was at Leverkusen, but on a bigger scale.

Then the attack and the team will be built around him going forward.

€150m (which is the rumoured, roundabout fee) is a lot of money. It will make Wirtz the most expensive Premier League player ever, beating Enzo Fernandez of Chelsea (€121m) and Jack Grealish’s move to Manchester City (€117.5m). There are not many players that you can look at the fee and justify such a price tag, but Wirtz is one of these players.

It may be a shame to see him leave the Bundesliga, but at a club like Liverpool, he has the environment and ability to not only become one of the best players in the world, and the best German player around (at the moment, before you get your pitchforks out) but also era defining.

GGFN | Jack Meenan