Germany legend explains reason behind Florian Wirtz's Liverpool struggles

Cameron Smith

• 6 Oct 2025 11:46 CDT
• 3 min read

News

German football legend Rudi Voller believes that Florian Wirtz’s struggles at Liverpool are largely down to his new team-mates.

The 22-year-old has failed to register a single goal contribution in seven Premier League matches since arriving at Anfield for a whopping £108 million (€125m) in July, and he has failed to live up the incredible hype that surrounded the transfer.

Current ETV

Florian Wirtz

AM, M (C)

Liverpool

Florian Wirtz

AM, M (C)

Liverpool

€137M

ETV Range

€102.8M - €171.3M

View full profile

Liverpool icon Jamie Carragher recently claimed that Wirtz should be dropped from Arne Slot’s favoured team, following his slow start at the club, and he now faces an uphill battle to displace Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai or Ryan Gravenberch in the Reds’ midfield after only starting one of their last three English top flight matches.

Wirtz was part of Liverpool’s £419.66m (€482.9m) summer spending spree, however their new signings have largely failed to impress so far this season, excluding Hugo Ekitike, and the Germany international has borne the brunt of widespread criticism by fans and pundits over the past few weeks.

Florian Wirtz defended by Rudi Voller

Although Wirtz has been unable to adapt to Premier League football since his arrival, former Germany striker Voller believes he isn’t to blame for his poor start at Liverpool.

“The big difference is at Bayer Leverkusen, despite the individual quality of the other players, he was always looked for,” Voller told Sky90 (via BuliNews).

“Players like Granit Xhaka, Alejandro Grimaldo or Robert Andrich certainly ran the game. But the moment Florian made himself available, he always got the ball. Even as a young guy, he was already the chief.

“I deliberately watched some Liverpool games with him: he does an incredible amount of work, runs a lot, makes many sprints, and also goes deep. But he isn’t played to in the way he was used to at Leverkusen or with the national team. That’s something that has to be developed over weeks and months.”

Voller added: “I know that he’s not one of those divas in his position who stand around with their heads down if they’re not passed to three times. Florian isn’t like that. He’s not only an extraordinary footballer, he also has a great character.

“He will give everything from the first to the last minute, always push forward. He also has incredible running stats. He will assert himself.”

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