Florian Wirtz is now playing like Florian Wirtz.
Most British readers will not know exactly what that means unless they keep a keen eye on the German Bundesliga, but put it this way: Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid all wanted him after 34 goals and 35 assists across his last two campaigns with Bayer Leverkusen.
They wanted him because, at 22 years old, every club executive knew that barring any serious injuries, Wirtz would go on to be one of the stars of his generation.
A future Ballon d’Or winner perhaps, the poster boy of Germany’s home Euros in 2024 and their main man again this summer in the World Cup.
At Bayer, he won the Bundesliga in an unbeaten season (their first ever title), the German Cup and took them to the Europa League final and, though they knew it was time to let him go, they would not do so for under £100million.
So clearly, Liverpool pulled off a coup in persuading Wirtz to join them when he could have hand-picked his next club.
Liverpool pulled off a coup in persuading Florian Wirtz to join them in the summer – but for six months it looked like they had signed a different player to the superstar they expected
Wirtz has been excellent since Christmas, scoring six goals in 10 games and converting glimpses of his quality into 90-minute performances
Liverpool beat off Manchester City and Real Madrid to sign Wirtz – if he fulfils his potential at Anfield, he could be one of the stars of his generation
Yet, during his first six months in England, we did not see the Florian Wirtz we were all promised. Until Christmas, when something clicked…
After zero goals in his first 22 games for the club, he now has six in his last 10. In all of those first 22 games without scoring, he would have some moments of class that made you think, ‘Here we go…’ but then he would tail off again.
Glimpses of quality are now becoming 90-minute performances and he is starting to dictate proceedings. Think of all the best playmakers in the Premier League era and Wirtz has a bit of all of their games.
He has the directness of Kevin De Bruyne and can score from distance like Steven Gerrard. He has the deftness of David Silva and can ghost into the box like Frank Lampard. Is he as good as those players? Ask again in five years – but he certainly has the raw ingredients to get to that level.
His stats before and after Christmas are in stark contrast.
Nearly every metric sees an increase. He is now having more touches in the penalty area (7.7 per 90, compared to 5.5 before Christmas), taking more shots (2.3 to 1.6), scoring more goals (0.6 to 0), having more touches (82.2 to 67.2) and creating more expected assists, the golden metric of creativity (0.32 to 0.16).
Off the ball, he is applying pressure more (56 times per 90 compared to 49 before Christmas) and making more runs in behind defenders (7.8 to 6.3). Only Brentford’s Igor Thiago has more goals and assists in the Premier League than Wirtz since Boxing Day.
So how has he silenced the doubters who had labelled him a ‘flop’ after just six months of his six-year deal?
Wirtz (pictured celebrating his goal against Wolves in December) has been scoring and creating more in 2026
Wirtz has added around four kilograms of muscle mass since the summer after spending hour upon hour in the gym
Wirtz was ‘special’ on the ball from the start of his Liverpool career, insists his boss Arne Slot
First of all, Wirtz needed to bulk up. He has added several kilograms of muscle mass (between three to four kilograms) and spent hour upon hour in the gym. The nutritionists love him as he is a big-eater whose favourite, protein-heavy meal of the day is eggs or pancakes for breakfast.
His old mate at Leverkusen, Jeremie Frimpong, has done the same, with the pair putting in the hard yards away from the pitch. A former physio at Leverkusen has been joshing them about their transformation – ‘no pain no gain’, et cetera.
It is not so much his physicality that Wirtz has improved – the Bundesliga is full of classic hard-man defenders – but the intensity. The phrase ‘intensity is our identity’ was once put up in signage in the Anfield tunnel by Pep Lijnders, now of Manchester City, and it is maybe still true.
‘First and foremost credit to the player because he has to do the work in the pitch and the gym,’ said Slot, when asked about Wirtz’s development. ‘If he is physically struggling at the start, you need to keep on playing him as that is the only way he can improve.
‘I don’t think he improved that much on the ball because from the start he was special but maybe now he has a better connection with his team-mates. Off the ball I see the biggest improvement with him. That combination makes you ready for the Premier League.’
A lot of it is also down to becoming accustomed to playing for Liverpool. After all, this was his first step outside his comfort zone of Leverkusen (where he moved to from nearby club Cologne as a teenager, to some consternation in the local press due to billionaire-funded Bayer poaching him).
He has slowly built a rapport with fellow former Bundesliga man Hugo Ekitike, the 15-goal top scorer who is lighting up the league after his £79m move from Eintracht Frankfurt.
Wirtz is also adjusting to British culture outside of football and living away from his family, which includes nine siblings. Florian is the youngest of 10 to Hans and Karin, the parents who went on clandestine visits to England in May to meet both Liverpool and Manchester City.
Wirtz has slowly built a rapport with fellow former Bundesliga man Hugo Ekitike (right), Liverpool’s 15-goal top scorer
Liverpool fans are finally seeing the best of their German playmaker – and they’ve showed their appreciation of him at Anfield
Although he misses home, he is regularly in contact with friends and his siblings, including 24-year-old Juli who plays for the Werder Bremen women’s team, fourth in Frauen-Bundesliga. Wirtz watches her games on TV when they do not clash with his own.
He also enjoys playing padel (find a footballer who does not) and taking his dog Zoomer for walks. He is a laidback chap whose biggest annoyance in football came when he became a viral meme in Germany due to a video of him ranking types of potato (baked was his No 1).
Wirtz also relaxes on his PlayStation – though this is something he has found in adulthood. Growing up, he was not allowed a video games console to allow him to focus on other activities. Naturally, football was the main one and, clearly, that parenting tactic paid dividends.
Similar can be said about Slot’s careful management of Wirtz in a frustrating first six months. It is starting to pay off now.
After a few goals past second-rate opposition, nothing would announce Wirtz’s true arrival in England like a starring role on Sunday against Manchester City, the team he could have been lining up for if things had gone just ever so slightly differently.
