What will Florian Wirtz bring to Liverpool?

National World - LocalTV

Will Rooney profiles Liverpool's record signing Florian Wirtz.

Transcript

00:00So, Will, Florian Wirtz signing for Liverpool, an incredible fee, a record that Liverpool have paid,

00:08a record in the Premier League for a player to come over, an incredible few seasons on the bounce-up by Leverkusen.

00:15He's a player that's been, you know, flirting around, being one of these next wonder kids, these young players.

00:21Firstly, you know, your thoughts on the signing.

00:23I mean, it's obviously been a while since Liverpool have splashed this amount of cash in terms of being linked with players.

00:32They've finally broken that boundary and, you know, gone for three figures like the likes of Chelsea have in previous seasons as well.

00:40So, what's your thoughts on Florian Wirtz? How excited are Liverpool fans with this new addition?

00:45Yeah, I think it's a real statement signing, to be honest with you.

00:48I think when Wirtz was first linked, people were sort of saying, well, that's not going to happen because

00:57even though Liverpool are Premier League champions, everyone's accepted that additions and eases,

01:03but attacking midfield wasn't really one of them this summer.

01:07You know, you've got Dominic Sabost, who was favoured there, you've got Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott,

01:11Jota can play there, but clearly Liverpool's seen this as a chance to sign an absolute top, top prospect.

01:23And Liverpool have missed out on some of them, obviously, Jude Bellingham being one of them, you know,

01:28missed out on Kai Seydal and Chouameni went to Real Madrid.

01:32And Liverpool have managed to beat Bayern Munich and Manchester City to a player who is, you know,

01:41many people realize is the best player in Germany.

01:44And I think that's why maybe Liverpool have moved forward, because some players,

01:50it doesn't matter if you don't need that player, sometimes you just can't pass up the opportunity

01:55to sign a real top-class player, and that's what he is, £100 million at club records.

02:03It feels like the last one that Liverpool signed of this ilk was maybe, you know,

02:08an Alison Becker or maybe a Virgil van Dijk, and it shows that Liverpool are really diamond at the top table now.

02:15Now they've made some fantastic signings, you know Salah, Sadio Mane, you know,

02:20but at the time that they were signed, would every single club in the world have jumped to have signed them?

02:28Or would there have been a couple of hesitations around them, but playing where it is, it's different.

02:33And as you said, where will he play now for Liverpool?

02:36Now, his favourite position is the number 10 role, talks about Dominic Suboslay,

02:41because Suboslay, maybe some supporters were disappointed with his attack and output at times,

02:47but he covered so much ground to allow Mo Salah to stay up the pitch high and do the damage from there

02:54and look at the season that he has.

02:56But if you're paying £100 million, then surely Dominic Suboslay, I know he's probably going to be coming in

03:02as the number 10 he had, does Arna Slot potentially play two number 10s and, you know,

03:08utilise a false striker.

03:10He did that at Manchester City where Liverpool won in the middle of the season.

03:14Florian Wirtz, he can play a false nine, he can play wide, so it's about where he'll fit in.

03:21But the fact that Florian Wirtz chose Liverpool because Arna Slot had a clear plan for him,

03:27then it's not going to be on the hop, it's not going to be, right, where can we?

03:31A bit like Liverpool sign for Roberto for me.

03:33A few years ago, he was brought in by Michael Edwards and Brendan Rodgers didn't really know where to play him,

03:40but Liverpool have quite clearly got a plan for Florian Wirtz and I think it will be prominent

03:47to see where he's going to play after the first few games in pre-season.

03:52Yeah, do you feel just it's a bit of a match made in heaven with Arna Slot's hard-working side

03:56because he's made, you know, he's up there with the top recovery stats across Europe as well.

04:01So, you know, and the ground covered as well, I believe, in terms of attacking output players,

04:06attacking positions, he's covered the most ground in Europe last season, you know,

04:11in terms of miles per game, which is quite, you know, astonishing.

04:15So, do you feel they might have looked at that and thought, yeah, with Arna Slot's side

04:19and the way he wants to work, you know, his players to work hard, relentlessly,

04:23you know, off the ball as well, that it's just going to be a match made in heaven?

04:26Or do you feel there could also be a little bit of risk with this signing?

04:29You know, we've seen players come over from the Bundesliga, the likes of, you know,

04:33Kai Havertz was incredibly, you know, touted to be an incredible player

04:37and he hasn't quite hit those heights in Germany that he did.

04:40Do you feel that there could be a bit of an element of risk as well in there?

04:43What's your thoughts on the signing?

04:47Yeah, and another one that people know well is Naby Keita,

04:50who he paid a lot of money for and it didn't work out from the Bundesliga.

04:54But, as you say, Arna Slot wouldn't be signing this player if he didn't think,

04:59not only is he going to have, you know, a fantastic attacking output,

05:03I think 57 goals, 64 assists and nearly 200 games for Leicester Cousin,

05:09but he will do his fair share off the ball.

05:14And he's quite clearly got both sides to his game.

05:18One's not compromised.

05:21Clearly, him putting a shift in off the balls and affecting him going forward.

05:26So, that'll be a key one that Arna Slot's look for when he's bringing him flowing away.

05:33It's because, as you say, you can't get by with luxury players anymore in football.

05:37I think those are the things that have passed.

05:39I mean, maybe if he's a godstayer of Ryan Shearkey from Lyon,

05:44maybe he might be a little bit more attacker,

05:47maybe want to stay a little bit further forward.

05:49And I think he can maybe forward that with one or two players.

05:52Obviously, a striker may be another attacker, but you can't with everyone.

05:56And if you're going to play a striker, say, Liverpool, do go and get one,

06:00and you've got Mo Salah up there,

06:02then you need your other players to work hard.

06:05And I think that's what it'll do.

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