It’s fair to say that Liverpool star Florian Wirtz is feeling the pressure at this moment in time. He’s very much in the spotlight, for all the same reasons.
The German midfielder is not in good form and is still struggling to justify the €125m Liverpool paid to sign him from Bayer Leverkusen last summer.
He’ll be spending the international break in the Germany squad and has even been bumped up to the first squad that Jurgen Klopp will be looking at.
Tah support
That’s seen the former Liverpool boss asked about him today. He moved to defend the 23-year-old, insisting that he joined Liverpool at the wrong time among other things.
Those comments came in a German press conference, where Klopp was appearing alongside defender Jonathan Tah. He played alongside Wirtz at Leverkusen.
And he’s more than aware of the criticism that his former teammate has been receiving. Criticism that he personally finds odd.
“I find the amount of criticism directed at him extreme,” BILD report him saying.
“But eventually, everyone will understand. He is currently going through a phase that shouldn’t be blown out of proportion. He needs to keep going and keep believing in himself.”
More criticism coming?
The reality, though, is that the criticism of Wirtz is almost justified at this point. A record of seven goals and 11 assists in 55 games is not the kind of numbers that Liverpool were expecting when they paid such a huge fee for him last summer.
They are also nowhere near the 57 goals and 65 assists in 197 games for Leverkusen that led to such a big valuation and the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City and Real Madrid chasing his signature.
While Tah, Klopp and others want to play down the focus and criticism, the reality is that even more will be coming his way if there isn’t a marked improvement sooner rather than later. 7
