Owen Hargreaves urges re-think on Florian Wirtz, telling boss Arne Slot to ‘get the right balance’ after mega-money signing struggles to discover form for Liverpool

Wirtz joined Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen in June for a fee that could rise to £116 million ($156m) in a long-term deal keeping him at Anfield until at least 2030. He made an impressive debut for Liverpool in the Community Shield against Crystal Palace, laying on an assist in a 2-2 draw, which the Reds lost on penalties. He then made his Premier League debut in a 4-2 victory over Bournemouth, but he has failed to maintain that promising start, and become the subject of much debate. While he has shown glimpses of his talent, he is still adapting to the Premier League. In his first six Premier League appearances, he has yet to score or provide an assist. This contrasts with his impressive output at Leverkusen, where he notched 31 goal contributions (16 goals/15 assists) across all competitions during the 24/25 season and was named Germany's Footballer of the Year. He’s still finding his best role within the team and adapting to the physicality and intensity of the league. 

Hargreaves said: "They were so good last year, they looked like they should blow everyone away. This year, they have signed some really good players, but Wirtz, when you pay that money, you try to get him in. But actually, that midfield three was the best in the league last year. You couldn't get better than Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai. All of a sudden, you spend that money on Florian and you've got to play him really. They've tried to get him in, and then Szoboszlai has played at right back, and I just think the balance is off. Ibrahima Konate has made a few mistakes, which we didn't see last year. I just think it's a balance issue. They've got two new full-backs; the addition of Wirtz, Alexander Isak. You've got to think that they've got so many great players. It goes back to the Arsenal-Arteta thing; you've just got to get the balance right on the game."

Arne Slot has talked about how Premier League opposition consistently change the way they play against the Reds and his need to find new solutions to those conundrums. Slot said: "The first part of last season, Jurgen Klopp gave me a lot of gifts, but one of the gifts he also gave me was finishing third the year before and fifth the year before that. Him being so well known, a new manager came in and everybody thought, 'Oh, let's start to play against Liverpool’. Teams played in a completely different way in the first half of the season against us than they did when we were top of the league after half of the season and when we were top of the Champions League after the first part of the season. I can see this going now into this part of this season and we have to find answers to that. Last season, one of the answers was a set-piece, like many teams unlock a low block with set-pieces. This season, we haven't done that yet."

Wirtz is certainly facing price-tag pressure, but will be given time to find his form in the coming weeks. And there are high-profile fixtures in abundance for him to shine in the famous red shirt. The Reds are away against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, followed by a clash with fierce rivals Manchester United. But could a trip back to Germany be the location for him to rekindle his talismanic form as Liverpool will travel to face Eintracht Frankfurt on October 22nd?