Julian Nagelsmann has offered a pointed diagnosis of Florian Wirtz’s early struggles at Liverpool, arguing that the club’s turbulent transition has made it harder for the £116 million signing to settle into Arne Slot’s side.
Wirtz arrived on Merseyside in the summer as one of Europe’s most coveted young midfielders, joining from Bayer Leverkusen for a fee that could rise to £116 million with add-ons.
His pedigree was not in doubt: he was one of the Bundesliga’s most productive creators last season, central to Leverkusen’s title charge under Xabi Alonso. Yet the 22-year-old’s introduction to Premier League football has proved far more complex.
He has started seven of Liverpool’s 11 league matches and is yet to register a goal or assist, a statistic that has invited criticism from pundits and scrutiny from supporters.
Gary Neville described Wirtz as having been “mauled” by Manchester City in Sunday’s 3-0 defeat, adding that he looked like “a little boy” in the physical exchanges at the Etihad.
Nagelsmann, however, was unequivocal at his press conference ahead of Germany’s World Cup qualifiers against Luxembourg and Slovakia: the problem, in his view, is the environment, not the player.
“I always speak to Flo, regardless of his situation,” Nagelsmann said. “It’s a very complex and difficult situation when you look at his club. Last year they won the Premier League and played very attractive football. This year a few players left them, and they invested a lot of money on new players.
“So the entire mix is very complex – each of the five attacking players wants to be the ‘star player’, this situation doesn’t make it easy for Flo – because the entire club is not as stable as they were last season. I watched the game against City and they were the worse team over 90 minutes.”
The Germany head coach believes the combination of turnover in personnel, uneven early-season performances and competition for attacking prominence he referenced Mohamed Salah, Hugo Ekitike, Cody Gakpo and Alexander Isak alongside Wirtz has created a difficult dynamic for any new arrival to navigate.
“It’s not easy for Flo to put his mark in such a situation,” he continued. “We can see that a lot of players struggle when they move to another club where there have been many changes. We can’t expect him to perform at the same level for three years straight.
“Instead, we all need to support him a little bit so that he can clear his head here, and then maybe Liverpool could also help him out by scoring some of the chances he creates. That would be one idea, because he does not create few chances, it’s just that they somehow don’t like to shoot the ball in, that’s also part of the truth.”
While Wirtz has struggled to impose himself consistently in the league he has started only three of Liverpool’s last seven top-flight fixtures his Champions League performances have provided encouragement.
He impressed in last week’s 1-0 win over Real Madrid, operating from the left and playing with the clarity that made him such a standout at Leverkusen.
Nagelsmann cited those steps forward as evidence that the midfielder’s trajectory remains positive. “I think he made steps in the right direction in October,” he said.
“We all know what he can do, it’s normal to have a dip in form. We’ll help and support him to keep a clear head.”
Liverpool’s upcoming schedule may now give Wirtz the platform he needs. After the international break, Slot’s side face nine matches across all competitions before the end of December, including Premier League fixtures against West Ham, Leeds United and Wolves.
Five of those games are at Anfield, where Liverpool’s fluency and Wirtz’s influence has historically been stronger.
For Nagelsmann, the situation is neither alarming nor unusual. A player who thrived amidst stability and coherence in Leverkusen has landed in a Liverpool side caught between eras, attempting to assimilate several high-profile arrivals while defending a title that already looks out of reach.
“In the end, I can’t influence his performances at Liverpool,” he said. “I can only influence what he does here.”
