Florian Wirtz, What Is Going On?

Sixty-two minutes in, Ryan Gravenberch was sent off, and every Liverpool supporter at Anfield ran the same quick sum: who comes off? Only one name came to mind. Four minutes later, with City’s first goal still ringing around the stadium, Florian Wirtz trudged off for Trey Nyoni, and nobody was surprised.

A club-record signing is supposed to be the one a manager protects when a game turns, the man a plan builds around when ten men need a hero. Wirtz was the first one sacrificed, after a year of supporters telling each other next month, next season, once he settles.

Wirtz Doesn’t Look Or Play Like A Superstar

Against City, he lost possession 17 times in 66 minutes, more than anyone on the pitch. His one unblocked shot went off target, two of his eight crosses found a teammate, and he won half his ground duels. Goal gave him 3.5 out of 10, the Daily Mail and BBC a four, and the Express a three and a 10/10 on a worry scale for Liverpool fans.

Put him next to the players he is supposed to be compared with. Bruno Fernandes broke the Premier League record last season with 21 assists, added eight goals and was named Player of the Season. Wirtz finished the same season with five goals and three assists.

Kevin De Bruyne is 35, and he would still run rings around Wirtz, which is why it is futile to even bring in his Premier League stats or impact for comparison, because that would be an insult to the great man.

Cole Palmer missed England’s World Cup squad after a stop-start year, and despite that, he already has two goals and three assists in six league games. Every name on that list produces something you can point at when his team needs it, and Wirtz produces what? Touches? Running?

Where Is the Dog? Where Is the Man Who Takes the Game by the Scruff?

Wirtz has the touches and the neat little passes, but Liverpool did not pay £116m for neat little passes. Football is decided by goals and assists, and he was bought to produce them, not to keep the ball ticking sideways like a man in a five-a-side.

Where is the intent? Where is the urge to drag a team through a game, the alpha who says this is my side? He strikes no fear in anyone. Defenders don't tighten up when he gets the ball, and goalkeepers don't lose sleep over his shots, because his shots are weak and his passes wayward. Too often his first touch carries him towards Liverpool’s own box, not the opposition’s.

He has one or two moments a game where his quality flickers, then spends the rest chasing shirts and giving the ball away. With the game goalless on Sunday, he lashed a shot wide when better options lay to his left, and that was the closest he came to taking the game on.

Carragher and Neville Said What Anfield Was Thinking

Jamie Carragher did not soften it. He said Wirtz is not giving Liverpool enough, that he has played 55 to 60 games and should not be in the team, and that despite all the talk of ups and downs, there has been no up. Then he added that he looks really small.

Gary Neville said you would expect the big money signings, Wirtz and Barcola, to do more, but it was Munoz and Koumas setting the tempo. 

A 21-year-old on his first Premier League start and a new arrival were running the show while the record signing laboured across the field. 

During one instance when Liverpool were on a break, Wirtz declined a pass, and Kerkez and Barcola went mad at him, which isn't the body language of a team with chemistry. When he did shoot, Neville said he should have played in Barcola with Kerkez on the overlap, and it is now four club games without a goal involvement.

Klopp Got a Goal Out of Him in Munich. Who Gets One Out of Him at Anfield?

What should worry Iraola most is what happened ten days ago. Wearing the Germany armband under Jürgen Klopp, Wirtz scored against Serbia, had a hand in the other goal and completed 74 of 79 passes. Afterwards, he said the movement around him made it easier to shine, which sounds like a player waiting for teammates to bring the game to him, not one who takes it to them.

Before that, Klopp told people to stop expecting special moments from him and to be satisfied with a game where he gave everything without a goal or assist. 

That is a remarkable thing to say about a £116m player. If the problem is mental, as it might be, who fixes it? Iraola says he rates him highly, and at some point someone at Liverpool has to sit him down and tell him the shirt isn't a reward for being gifted.

Drop Him or Wait for the Season to Unravel

Brentford, Brighton and Arsenal come next. The midfield that won the 2024/25 title did it without him, and Mac Allister, Gravenberch and Szoboszlai earned their places through performances. If Iraola keeps picking Wirtz because of what he cost, he is gambling a season on a sunk cost.

Liverpool can sit him down now, take the awkward headlines and protect the campaign, or wait until the table forces the decision. History says talent alone is never enough, and nobody can say he does not work, because he ran further than any teammate in three of the first five league games. What he lacks is the belief that this is his team and he is the biggest dog in it. Who changes that? Right now, nobody knows.

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