Recruited for 136 million euros including bonus from Bayer Leverkusen, Florian Wirtz (22) has struggled to convince since his arrival at Liverpool, with only one assist in 10 matches in all competitions. Faced with criticism, his coach Arne Slot came to his defense before the clash against Manchester United. “When you are recruited for such an amount, people mainly focus on goals and assists, but I can tell you that he could already be at six or seven assists”he told Sky Sportshighlighting the less visible but very real influence of the German attacking midfielder.
The former Feyenoord boss continued: “If you look at the passes he made to his teammates, which unfortunately didn't result in goals, one of the best examples was the game against Chelsea, where after a minute on the pitch he made a great deflection for Mo Salah. For Mo, it's a goal 99 times out of 100. I have to say 98 times out of 100, because the last time he received a ball like that was against Atlético Madrid, from Florian Wirtz too, but Mo hit the post. He was a bit unlucky with his teammates' finishing when he created chances for them. But generally speaking, for a 22-year-old player, it's completely normal to have to adapt by going to another country, let alone the Premier League. »
