Don't write off Florian Wirtz yet! Germany lynchpin can silence his Liverpool doubters by playing starring role at World Cup

Jamie Carragher was already worried that the Germany international was little more than "neat and tidy" on the ball, while Gary Neville argued that the supposed solution to a perceived lack of creativity in midfield had become a "problem" for Liverpool.

"We've been tiptoeing around him for a few months, around the fact that he's young, he's coming to a new country, but he's £100 million-plus player, you're going to have to stand up soon," the former Manchester United full-back said on his own podcast after Liverpool's insipid 3-0 loss at Manchester City in November.

"Today, I thought Wirtz looked like a little boy. That can't be the case. He's been chucked around the pitch, and didn't deliver on the quality side of things as well, so his performance was a real worry. He's a Germany international of great standing, and he looks well short in respect of what you'd expect in a top physical Premier League match."

Wirtz gained a bit of much-needed muscle over the course of his first season in England. "I had to get a bit stronger," he admitted.

However, while his goal and assists numbers improved after finally getting off the mark in a 2-1 win over Wolves on December 27, Wirtz's inability to impose himself on games - particularly big games - remained a cause for concern, and Carragher felt he had been left with no option but to call him out after another ineffective showing in Liverpool's 3-2 loss to Manchester United on May 3.

"The one player I think has had a very easy ride is Florian Wirtz," the former Reds defender said on Sky Sports. "I've never moved clubs, let alone moved to a different country. But, I think we've given him time. We've been very, very kind.

"He was poor today. And even if Liverpool play really well, it's still [Dominik] Szoboszlai and even at times this season [Mohamed] Salah. Salah hasn't been the Salah of last season, but he has still been one of Liverpool's best attackers.

"I commentated Liverpool away at Burnley earlier in the season and I described Wirtz as being neat and tidy. I was being kind then. I wouldn't describe him as anything different right now. He's a year into his Liverpool career."

Given Wirtz's nine-figure fee, Liverpool fans were certainly entitled to expect more than 15 direct goal involvements from a player who had racked up more than double that figure in his final season at Bayer Leverkusen.

While there were promising performances against the likes of Newcastle, he certainly didn't make anything like the same impact at Anfield as fellow No.10 Rayan Cherki did at the Etihad, which reflected poorly on Wirtz, given the Frenchman had been of interest to Liverpool before being signed by Manchester City for just £34m ($45m).

However, there were multiple mitigating circumstances, with the main one being that Liverpool's campaign was a calamity from start to finish. Wirtz joined a title-winning team tipped to challenge for the Champions League - and yet after being easily beaten by Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals, the Reds only managed to qualify for next year's competition on the final day of the Premier League season.

It's no wonder, then, that Wirtz has looked more like his Leverkusen self while lining out for Germany, particularly this year.

Julian Nagelsmann has been key in that regard, as he steadfastly stood by Wirtz and started him in every single game the national team have played since the versatile attacking midfielder moved to Merseyside. Unsurprisingly, Wirtz appreciated the support.

"It was not an easy period [during the first half of the season]," he told Sportschau after both scoring and creating two goals in the 4-3 friendly win over Switzerland in March. "But [Nagelsmann] told me that it is also good that things don't always go upwards; that you also have a dent once in a while and become stronger because of it. That's how I see it now, that it has made me a bit stronger."

Nagelsmann wholeheartedly agrees and, thus, believes that a player who is "already a name in world football" can become a global star over the course of the next six weeks.

"Florian is unbelievably talented and always has the necessary energy to play our game," the Germany boss enthused. "Lothar Matthaus once gave him a grade of A+ and who could possibly disagree? You can’t."

Indeed, for all his trials and tribulations during a difficult debut season at Liverpool, Wirtz is clearly still very good at football. Do not be surprised if he reminds everyone of that fact at the World Cup.