Florian Wirtz at Liverpool is becoming a 'massive talking point'

Florian Wirtz’s role at Liverpool is simmering towards becoming a “massive” talking point to begin the 2026-2027 Premier League campaign, with icons Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville sounding the alarm on where the German fits into Andoni Iraola’s Reds re-build.

The prised signing from last season was deployed in a No.10 role on the weekend in a 2-2 draw with Newcastle, in a midfield three with Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai that simply left too much space in midfield and an imbalanced Liverpool engine room.

Carragher fears “this window of 12 months ago could set Liverpool back a year or two to fix it” while Neville said “he needs to sort himself out now, enough is enough”.

In SuperCoach EPL land, his form last term saw his price plummet 18.8% from £8,000,000 to £6,500,000, with that form making his starting price this season just £6,970,000, too tempting for 45% of SuperCoach EPL managers, who are punting on the thought he’ll surely hit his straps this term.

But football pundit Daniel Garb, an unabashed Liverpool supporter, isn’t so sure after the first impressions of this campaign and is giving him “two, three more weeks maximum, and then I’ll be shipping him out” if his form doesn’t improve.

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“Wirtz is a massive talking point way beyond SuperCoach and fantasy football, of course. That’s a big issue, I think, in the Premier League right now,” he said on Football360 Today’s SuperCoach EPL special.

“Because of the money that was invested and the fact that his season to settle is gone.

“Now you’ve got to produce.”

Liverpool legend Carragher said that last season’s spending spree under Arne Slot threatens to derail his former club for a couple of seasons. Wirtz was one of the £445m spent, alongside Alexander Isak for a Premier League record £125m, Hugo Ekitike (£79m), Milos Kerkez (£40m), Jeremie Frimpong (£29.5m), Giorgi Mamardashvili (£29m) and Giovanni Leoni (£26m).

“I’m not too concerned about Isak,” Garb continued.

“In fact, I think some of the criticism of him is unfair. He was injured for all of last season, pretty much. It was his first game. It was also a game against the team that he, let’s be honest, screwed over to get a move. So mentally, it would have been playing on him, and perhaps his poor finishing in the game was somewhat a result of that. Alexander Isak is a deadly finisher. Give him chances, he’ll score goals. He’s proven that throughout his career.

“The only concern with him is that he always picks up a lengthy injury, which he’s already done at Liverpool. So that’s the knock. I think Isak will be fine, if he gets continuity and gets enough chances.

“Wirtz a different story altogether, because he played all of last season and he was underwhelming.

“He started off slowly and I think everyone went, let’s just give him time, regardless of the price tag, adjusting to a new league. Then he had a good little patch, mainly in the Champions League, but he had a good two, three months and everyone went, okay, he’s coming good now. Then he dipped.

“But he dipped at a time when the Salah saga dominated and all the pressure was coming on Slot, (so) that it wasn’t as big of a talking point. And he probably got away with it a bit because of that. There were just other narratives that were bigger at Liverpool than Florian Wirtz.

“This season, there are no caveats, there are no asterisk: you have to perform and (he) didn’t play that well against Newcastle, had a big chance, didn’t score from it.

“I think there are genuine worries amongst Liverpool fans that he’s not going to be the player that Liverpool thought. Doesn’t mean he won’t be. But he’s had a year of it and and he just is not imposing himself enough on games.

“And I think there is a school of thought starting to permeate: is he that good? And B, does he suit the Premier League?

“Suiting the Premier League may be a part of it. When he was signed, he was a top 15 player in the world. That’s where he finished in the Ballon d’Or just before joining the Reds. And he hasn’t looked like it. So this is going to be something to watch with interest.”

His journey – and adjustment to the Premier League – is reminiscent of the struggles compatriot Timo Werner had at Chelsea and then Tottenham.

MATCHWEEK 1: The best SuperCoach EPL score of the weekend in Australia included a SERIE A PLAYER AS CAPTAIN in the XI?!

Could Wirtz be one of those players that simply does not hit the heights expected?

“It reminds me one Juan Sebastian Veron, when he signed at Manchester United and he was one of these big superstars coming to the Premier League and never really delivered. You know, like a Serihy Rebrov or a Roman Pavlyuchenko at Spurs, who everyone thought would come in and have this different element of class that would work well and they never quite delivered.

“Wirtz might just not suit the Premier League. He may not be that good. The microscope’s on in a big way. He’s still got time. Would love to see him deliver, but it’s a big worry for Liverpool considering the money spent.”

Like so many football narratives, the criticism can lurch in the extremities. Wirtz finished fourth last term for most chances created from open play in the Premier League, 12th for touches in the opposition box and also ranked in the top five for secondary chances created and carries ending in a chance.

As SuperCoach EPL managers plot how long to hold onto the Liverpool player, who notched six points in week one, the question is: is it Werner contributing to Liverpool’s problems, or is the environment at Liverpool since he arrived contributing to his problems?

“It’s probably a little bit of both, but this season will tell us the story,” Garb mused.

“Ultimately you’ve just got to deliver now.

“He’s got to just try and impose himself on games a little bit more. He’s a a neat and tidy footballer. He does get in some good spots. I don’t think he’s a crisp enough finisher of the ball. He has chances at times; he doesn’t seem to quite connect sweetly enough and he’s not quite linking up well enough with the strikers either. He’s not really getting into those imposing positions.

“He does some good things. It’s not like he’s playing terribly. We’re talking about a player who it costs over 110 million pounds. The price tag matters. I don’t care what you say. Like everyone lauded during the Klopp era the value signings Liverpool made, the Andy Robertsons and Fabinho for 30 million, was so cheap and you were able to build this incredible squad because they didn’t cost that much. Well, when you do invest a lot and the play doesn’t deliver, then you have to apply the same sort of discussion because it stops you signing other players. And they offloaded players to get him as well. So he needs to deliver at a a high enough level and he’s not right now.

“So it’s fair enough, I think, for the microscope to be on him from this week. That’s just the way it is. Isak, I’m not so concerned about. I think the criticism of him is probably unfair.”

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