Last summer, German midfielder Florian Wirtz made a huge move from Leverkusen to Liverpool. However, he struggled to find his feet in English football during his first season, and Liverpool missed out on the Premier League title. Because of his poor performances, former players and pundits criticized him heavily. Former vice-captain Jamie Carragher wanted him benched, while ex-Liverpool defensive midfielder Dietmar Hamann said Wirtz had “no future” at Anfield.
According to Graeme Bailey of TEAMtalk, Chelsea is keeping an eye on Wirtz with all this pressure at Liverpool. Xabi Alonso, who coached him for at Leverkusen, told them to prep for 2027.
Bayern Munich is still waiting in line too, even though their chiefs must be shocked when Wirtz turned them down for Liverpool.
From Liverpool’s side, the bosses are desperate for their big money to pay off, and they hold all the cards because Wirtz is locked in until 2030. They won’t sell him to a Premier League rival, handing him to Chelsea would weaken the Reds and build up the competition under a manager who knows how to use him. Still, word is that patience is wearing thin if things don’t pick up soon.
Wirtz has bounced back after a slow start to top-flight life. Working with Iraola, he bossed the game against Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium by setting up nine open-play chances, an away record we haven’t seen in the Premier League for over 15 years.
Even though analyst have put Wirtz under the microscope lately, he is ignoring the noise, saying, “Maybe I’m just an interesting guy! I just play my football. If people want to talk about me or judge me, that’s their job. I’m not focusing on that… I just want to play football and I can’t do more [than that].”
Wirtz played at Anfield on Sunday and forced Pascal Gross into an own goal as Liverpool beat Brighton, though he had to come off with a bit of a knock. Next up, they play Chelsea here on Wednesday in the Carabao Cup. Wirtz is a bit of a doubt, while Chelsea’s Cole Palmer is suspended after seeing red. Looking ahead, Wirtz and his dad are all in with Liverpool, zero plans to join Chelsea or go back to Germany.
