At the end of the 2024-25 season, Liverpool head coach Arne Slot flew to the south of France to honour talks with Rayan Cherki. Cherki was on Liverpool's shortlist, but the main target was Florian Wirtz, who was also wanted by Bayern Munich and Manchester City. Once Wirtz said his preference was to move to Anfield, the £116m deal became a formality.
More than a year on, things are still not clicking. The German has scored seven goals and provided 11 assists over 56 Reds appearances, but had no goal involvements against any of the top-10 teams in the Premier League last season. This term, he has started every league and Champions League game so far, managing just one assist across seven matches. Those struggles were summed up on Sunday against Manchester City, when new boss Andoni Iraola replaced Wirtz with Trey Nyoni in the 66th minute. Meanwhile, Cherki cost less than a third of what Liverpool paid for Wirtz and has already scored 16 goals and provided 18 assists in 65 City appearances.
Steven Warnock said Wirtz "doesn't impact the game enough" and "drifts in and out of games." Jamie Carragher went further, saying Wirtz needed to come out of the team. "He's not giving you anything defensively and he's not giving you anything going the other way," Carragher said.
Dropping Wirtz would be a big call, with Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai all sidelined. Iraola defended his player, saying Wirtz "has had good games with us this season" and that he would prefer to judge the team collectively. With two games a week before the November international break, changes are expected.
Source: BBC Sport Football · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing