Liverpool’s £100 million summer signing was expected to hit the ground running. He didn’t, but Florian Wirtz is starting to live up to the initial hype.
When Liverpool signed Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen last summer, you could almost hear the sharp intake of breath from the rest of the Premier League.
One of the most talented young players in the world was being added to a squad that comfortably won the title in 2024-25, and though it took a £100 million fee to get him (up to £116m with potential add-ons), few people other than rival fans and those who don’t watch football outside of the Premier League thought it was unreasonable.
It took a lot longer than many anticipated, but Wirtz’s recent performances seem to suggest that the man who Liverpool are likely to be largely built around over the coming years is taking up the mantle.
People were fascinated to see how he’d fit in Arne Slot’s side, and he made a decent first impression when he produced an assist in just the fourth minute of his competitive debut. Wirtz played a neat pass for fellow debutant Hugo Ekitiké to score against Crystal Palace in the Community Shield at Wembley.
However, while the Reds began their Premier League title defence with five straight wins, their performances were far from convincing, and the same was true for Wirtz.
There were plenty of nice touches and flashes of his ability, but also several instances of him being outmuscled, making the wrong choice and failing to connect with his new teammates on the same level he did almost telepathically at Leverkusen.
Wirtz recorded double figures for both goals and assists in each of his last two seasons in the Bundesliga, but despite his new team winning games, he was yet to score or add to his Community Shield assist. Then, Liverpool’s form fell apart.
Slot’s men went on a run of nine losses in 12 games in all competitions (W3). Wirtz did impress in UEFA Champions League victories over Eintracht Frankfurt and Real Madrid, getting two assists against the former, but that he did so against Bundesliga opposition almost furthered the argument that it was much tougher for him in the Premier League.
As comes with the territory of a hefty reputation and price tag, pundits and rival fans stuck the boot in. Wirtz was ‘too lightweight’, ‘overrated’ and ‘not cut out for English football’ according to some.
His new boss acknowledged early on that there might be some adjusting for him, especially physically. Wirtz came off in Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Arsenal in August seemingly with an injury, but Slot explained: “It wasn’t an injury, it was a welcome to the Premier League.
“After 85 minutes, I don’t think he knew he could have cramp in so many different places and that’s what happened. That is welcome to the Premier League, that is welcome to playing in this intensity.
“If you bring in – as we did – very, very good players, so, so, so talented but from different leagues and young… I think it is normal if you are not 27 or 28 you maybe need to make a step towards the Premier League and that’s what [Wirtz is] doing.”
Wirtz thought he had his first Liverpool goal against Sunderland when his shot deflected in off Nordi Mukiele in December’s 1-1 draw at Anfield, but replays showed the initial shot wasn’t on target, so it was awarded as an own goal.
The signs that he was starting to improve his work off the ball came against Brighton 10 days later. In a 2-0 home win, Wirtz won possession nine times, at least three more than any of his teammates, and the most he has managed in a game this season.
Prior to Liverpool’s trip to Tottenham the following week, Wirtz had created 25 chances in the Premier League, at least seven more than any other player who at that point was yet to record an assist in 2025-26. It wasn’t that he hadn’t been creative, and there was an element of misfortune that none of those chances had been converted by his teammates.
For example, he came off the bench at half-time in the 2-1 loss at Chelsea and almost immediately laid on a gloriously cheeky pass to Mohamed Salah, diverting the ball behind him with the inside of his left foot and perfectly to the open Egyptian, who missed the target. Had it gone in, it would have been one of the great Premier League assists, but as it was, Wirtz remained on zero goal involvements.
Against Spurs, though, his moment finally came. After turning the ball over, Liverpool attacked the hosts, with Wirtz able to slide a perfectly weighted pass to Alexander Isak – another big-money signing who had struggled to settle – and the Swede finished emphatically to put his team in front.
Unfortunately for Isak, a challenge from Spurs defender Micky van de Ven while trying to block the shot left him with a broken leg, so his momentum was immediately halted. Wirtz, however, has gone from strength to strength since.
Not only did he record his first Premier League goal involvement against Spurs, but it was also the first time Wirtz had taken over 100 touches in a game for Liverpool (105), which he repeated in his next outing at home to Wolves (106), when he also scored his first Premier League goal.
Moments after Ryan Gravenberch had given the Reds the lead, the hosts were on the attack again. Ekitiké picked Wirtz out with a pass through the middle, and he made no mistake to poke the ball past José Sá. The relief on his face was obvious in his celebration, while his teammates were clearly pleased he finally had that monkey off his back.
Like with his long wait for a Premier League assist, Wirtz’s first goal came from his 21st shot of the season in the league – at the time, only Bournemouth’s David Brooks (28) and Wirtz’s Liverpool teammate Alexis Mac Allister (22) had attempted more shots in the competition without scoring this season.
The assist from Ekitiké was the second of six goals the duo have combined for in all competitions this season. In fact, Ekitiké and Wirtz have combined for more goals in all competitions in 2025-26 (not including the Club World Cup) than any other Premier League pair, assisting three goals each for the other.
Wirtz also competed in 15 duels against Wolves, winning 11 of them, both being personal bests in a single game for Liverpool, showing his further improvement in dealing with the pace and physicality of English football.
Once he had his first goal, he developed a taste for it. Wirtz also scored in the 2-2 draw at Fulham and again in the 1-1 stalemate with Burnley in early January, but it was his excellent performance in Saturday’s 4-1 win over Newcastle United that seemed to shift the mood. Pundits and fans alike started to acknowledge that Wirtz is looking like the player who shone so brightly in the Bundesliga in the past few seasons.
His performance last weekend also showed that he doesn’t have to see lots of the ball to be influential. Wirtz had just 52 touches in the game but came away with a goal and an assist.
His impressive trickery in the first half opened up the visitors’ compact defence to set up Ekitiké for the equaliser at Anfield. His finish in front of the Kop in the second half against the Magpies also screamed of a player feeling more confident; Wirtz steered the ball precisely into the bottom left corner of the net after Salah’s pass to give Liverpool a much-needed two-goal cushion.
After only managing three assists with no goals in his first 21 games for Liverpool, Wirtz has nine goal involvements (6G 3A) in his last 11.
Since his first of that run against Tottenham on 20 December, no Premier League player has as many goal involvements across all competitions.
So, other than having far more of an impact in the final third, what else has changed in his game?
One of the more notable things during his early struggles was that he wasn’t seeing much of the ball. Wirtz averaged 83.6 touches per 90 for Bayern Leverkusen last season but just 63.9 across his first 20 outings for Liverpool (up to the Brighton game in December). In his 12 most recent appearances, though, he has averaged 81.9, much closer to how influential he was in Leverkusen.
On top of that, his touches in the opposition’s box have also increased from 5.0 per 90 in his first 20 games to 7.6 across the last 12. So, he’s not just having the ball in ‘safe’ areas, he’s getting more involved closer to goal.
When you look at the difference between his touch locations from his first 20 games and last 12, you can see that not only is Wirtz having more of them, but he’s taking a greater number of them in areas just outside the opposition’s box, especially on the left.
That will likely owe to starting out on the left of the attack in some games around the end of the year when Gakpo was out injured, but it is interesting that he’s getting more joy in those areas given they are very similar to the zones he largely took his touches in Germany as well.
He has broadly played on the left of the attack or as a number 10, but he’s also been asked to fill in on the right and even up front to cover for the absences of other Liverpool forwards. That can’t have been ideal for his settling-in period either.
It has probably helped that Wirtz has bulked up in recent months. One way to aid adaptation to a more physical league is by adding to your own muscle mass, which he has noticeably done.
His duel success rate has gone up from 36.2% in his first 20 games to 45.5% in his last 12, which is even above the success across attacking and defensive duels he enjoyed for Leverkusen last season (43.3%). While not necessarily only down to bulking up, spending time in the gym has likely been good for him.
One other interesting comparison to note from his first 20 games to his most recent 12 is that he is actually creating fewer chances. Wirtz averaged 2.8 chances created per 90 in his first 20 outings, but 2.2 in his last 12. However, his expected assists per 90 is up from 0.25 to 0.39, so while he is laying on fewer chances, those he is creating are likelier to end in a goal. So, he is either getting better at picking his moments, or his teammates have a greater understanding of how to move for him.
In a recent interview with BBC Sport, Wirtz acknowledged he had hoped to adapt to the Premier League straight away.
“I was very excited when I came [to the Premier League] and wanted it to be an instant success,” he told Kelly Somers, “but it didn’t [happen] like this and I just had to stay strong in my mind and keep believing in myself that at one point it has to click.
“I was telling myself, ‘You did so good in Germany, you can’t just forget how to play football like this here, because it’s not completely different football.’
“It was not easy to always have confidence on the pitch, but I think I dealt really [well] with it, and also my people around me helped me.”
Arguably Wirtz’s most underwhelming performance this season came in the 3-0 defeat at Manchester City in November. Liverpool as a team were insipid that day, but Wirtz only attempted 24 passes in 83 minutes on the pitch, his fewest in a game he’s started this season, while he had two shots, both off target, and didn’t create any chances.
With City coming to Anfield on Sunday, it is the perfect opportunity for Wirtz to cement his good form and show he can perform in the biggest games in the Premier League.
He has scored in five of his last six home games, and against a vulnerable looking City backline, it is the perfect chance for him to rubber stamp the notion he has now ‘arrived’ in English football.
Slot was asked about Wirtz’s form in his pre-match press conference on Thursday. He said: “I think it’s credit to the player because he has to do the work not only on the pitch, [but] also in the gym. And then as a manager, even if he is maybe physically struggling a little bit in the start, you need to keep on playing him because that’s the only way players can improve… I think he did not even improve that much on the ball because from the start he was special on the ball.
“Maybe now he has a better connection with his teammates because they played more and more together. But off the ball I see the biggest improvement with him and with some others. That combination makes you ready for the Premier League, because the Premier League is about both. It’s not only on the ball, it’s also definitely off the ball.”
It was announced on Thursday that Wirtz has been nominated for the Premier League’s Player of the Month award for January.
With the price he was signed for, it’s easy to forget Wirtz is just 22 years old, surely with his best years still ahead of him.
It’s too early to say with any certainty that he will go on to be a huge success at Liverpool, but there is certainly more optimism about it now than there was two months ago, and a reminder that jumping to conclusions in football is seldom a wise move.
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