Despite the first scorer point in the Premier League – the criticism of Florian Wirtz continues. Dietmar Hamann, who once played for the Reds himself, expresses doubts that the national player will prevail at Liverpool FC.
It took a full 16 games in the Premier League before he finally scored his first point: In the game against Tottenham Hotspur (2-1), Florian Wirtz prepared Alexander Isaak for the 1-0 goal. However, the German international is still waiting for his first goal for the Reds, who paid around 135 million euros for the former Leverkusen player in the summer. This is causing increasing criticism.
Dietmar Hamann, who played for Liverpool from 1999 to 2006, had clear words on “Sky” on Sunday evening. “It’s Christmas now and he hasn’t scored a goal yet. I’ve seen almost all of the games. He played his best games in the Champions League, where football is a little different. It’s not so hectic, fast and physical. He played well against Frankfurt (…) He prepared most of the scoring opportunities. But what is preparing a scoring opportunity? The fact is: he wasn’t involved in any goals yesterday (against Tottenham – i.e. R.) he put one on, but didn’t shoot one. And he doesn’t play well.”
Hamann, 52, played 59 times for Germany and won the Champions League with the Reds in 2005. “How long do you want to wait,” he asked, looking at Wirtz: “He’s being protected by the club. Slot says he’s doing wonderfully, I’m happy with him. I think at some point they’ll have to say: Watch out boy, you still have six or eight weeks left, you have to show now that you can play for us. At the moment he can’t do it. Maybe the fact that Salah is away for three weeks will help him.” The Egyptian is taking part in the Africa Cup of Nations.
“He has to work for it,” says Völler
Hamann reported that people called him and asked what kind of player Florian Wirtz was. “Then I said, this is the best we’ve had in the last 30 years. Even you don’t have one like that. The fact that he doesn’t make it was out of the question for me. Only it’s now Christmas and he hasn’t scored a goal in over 20 games. Now, if you ask me, will he make it or not, I tend to say no.” Hamann added with a view to next year’s World Cup, we had recently seen in the international matches that Wirtz had no self-confidence.
When asked about Wirtz and his first months in Liverpool, DFB sports director Rudi Völler said in an interview with WELT AM SONNTAG that he was not wanted on the pitch as often as was the case in the Bayer Leverkusen jersey.
“But he has to work for it. I think the high fee that was paid for him is not the problem,” said Völler: “It doesn’t bother Florian. He certainly thought that it would be a little easier to find his place in the team. The team functioned perfectly last season, then it was changed a little. It takes time for everything to fall into place. Florian has to get through that. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time until he really settles in there – and with FC Gives Liverpool what it wants to give and, above all, can give.”
LaGa
