No longer a 'little boy' - Florian Wirtz is showing he WILL be the Premier League's next star playmaker with improved Liverpool displays

Wirtz wasn't the only Liverpool player to disappoint in the 3-0 loss at the Etihad that realistically ended the Reds' title defence after just 11 games. Arne Slot's side may have been unlucky to see Virgil van Dijk's equaliser disallowed for offside, but there was no disguising how poorly they had all played.

Neville, though, was particularly concerned by how little Wirtz had contributed to the game - and, in fairness to the retired right-back, one could understand why.

There had been just two shots from Wirtz (neither of which were on target) and zero chances created. Even more damningly, the £100 million player around which Liverpool clearly intended to construct their revamped attack, had touched the ball fewer times than stand-in goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili during a painfully ineffective outing on the left wing.

"Wirtz is a problem," Neville declared on his Sky Sports podcast. "Let's just call it as it is: it's an issue. 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 £100m-plus, you're going to have to stand up soon.

"He's obviously got something, he's a really good player, he's technically fantastic, but he's been chucked around the pitch, and he didn't deliver on the quality side of things as well, so his performance was a real worry."

Neville was particularly concerned with Wirtz's physique. He didn't think that the Germany international looked fit or strong enough for the rigours of English football - and it was significant that Wirtz's best performances in a Liverpool shirt up until that point had all come in Europe, against Atletico Madrid, Eintracht Frankfurt and Real Madrid.

As Berbatov alluded to, there was a growing fear that the diminutive 22-year-old simply wasn't cut for a Premier League that had become even more intense and aggressive this season. His former Manchester United team-mate Wayne Rooney, meanwhile, also argued that Wirtz wasn't the right fit for Liverpool; that the club had bought a player ill-suited to Slot's system

"I think Wirtz actually damages the balance of Liverpool and how they play," the ex-England forward said on his BBC podcast. "He's a top player and I'm sure he will get better - but he's had a slow start and I think there's no denying that. I've seen players come into this league and it takes time.

"But it's not the price tag. It's not the player or his ability. I just don't see where he fits into what Liverpool do in that [4-3-3] formation. Is he a third midfield player? For me, no, he's more of an attacking player. So, if I have to choose between him and [Dominik] Szoboszlai, then I choose Szoboszlai."

However, the devastating three-goal defeats at home to Nottingham Forest and PSV at the end of November proved that Wirtz was never really the problem. Liverpool were just as defensively frail without their injured No.7 - if not more so - and a lot less threatening in attack.

Of course, Slot's response to the Reds' rotten run of results was to adapt a more conservative game plan, which resulted in Wirtz being put back onto the left wing rather than played in his preferred No.10 role. However, in the run-up to Christmas, he began to feel the benefits of the special fitness programme designed to not only help Wirtz bulk up but also boost his stamina.

On December 3, he completed 90 minutes in the Premier League for the first time, and it was his late deflected effort that spared Liverpool from an embarrassing loss at home to Sunderland.

By the turn of the year, it no longer mattered whether Wirtz was deployed on the left or through the middle, he was making an impact wherever he played and earning comparisons to Kop icon Peter Beardsley for the way in which he was nimbly moving in between the lines - and defenders - to both create and convert chances.

Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy had insisted all along that Wirtz's record of zero goals or assists in his first 16 Premier League appearances was misleading.

"Although you have to accept that he hasn’t started as well as we anticipated," Murphy told GOAL in October, "I think he has been a bit unlucky because he has made a lot of chances that haven’t been converted. All of a sudden the narrative changes a little bit if a few of those go in."

And that's exactly how it's panned out, because Wirtz hasn't really looked back since Alexander Isak stuck away one of his through-balls in the 2-1 win at Tottenham on December 20. The following weekend, in fact, he opened his Liverpool account against Wolves in what represented a huge boost for his confidence.

"I am quite sure it was a relief for him," Slot said afterwards. "I could see with his reaction when he scored the goal and it was the same with his team-mates, they were really happy for him.

"In football, rightly so maybe, we mainly get judged on results and individuals mainly get judged on goals and assists and we sometimes forget what else is there to do during a game. And I think he has multiple good games for us, but I also think he is getting better every game he plays for us. 

"He is getting fitter and fitter and was getting closer and closer to his first goal, and it is not a surprise he scores today. He will be the first to understand that one goal is not enough. But he will go on and score many more goals."

Unsurprisingly, Slot was spot on.

Thanks to his precise first-time finish from Mohamed Salah's pass in last weekend's 4-1 win over Newcastle, Wirtz now has six goals in his last 10 appearances in all competitions. He's also formed a fantastic understanding with striker Hugo Ekitike - as so encouragingly underlined by the fact that the pair have combined for more goals than any other Premier League duo this season (six).

Consequently, Wirtz is turning doubters into believers - chief among them, Jamie Carragher, who previously questioned the German's world-class credentials by pointing out that Liverpool legends such as Luis Suarez and Sadio Mane had hit the ground running after arriving at Anfield.

"I can’t think of many who had an average, poor start," the former Reds defender said on Sky Sports back in October. "I'm not talking seven games by the way, but if you’re getting to Christmas and January and being like, 'Oh...' History doesn't tell me that top foreign signings come into England take a year."

Wirtz didn't either, though. 

Wirtz may have looked a little lost at times during the first half of the season, but he's found his feet now. Indeed, after watching Wirtz both score and assist in his preferred position during a Player-of-the-match-winning performance against Newcastle in what was Liverpool's best Premier League display of the season so far, Carragher even went so far as to compare him to two of the finest playmakers the Premier League has ever seen.

"I have watched him a lot and thought about whether he can get to Kevin De Bruyne's level," the former centre-back said on Sky Sports' 'Monday Night Football'. "But I also think he could be lovely on the eye like David Silva. He has almost a bit of both.

"We are talking about special players coming into our league and, eventually, the mantle has to be passed on, and there is no doubt the lad has real quality. The Premier League has lost De Bruyne, [but] we have gained Wirtz."

City supporters may well be enraged by such hyperbole, given Wirtz clearly has a hell of a long way to go be mentioned in the same bracket as De Bruyne and Silva. However, it's now a lot easier for everyone to understand why Pep Guardiola wanted Wirtz to replace De Bruyne at the Etihad last summer. That certainly wasn't obvious the last time City and Liverpool met in the Premier League, but it should be at Anfield on Sunday. 

Liverpool's 'little boy' is transforming into a Modric-like 'monster'.