Thierry Henry blames Florian Wirtz's Liverpool struggles on 'Bundesliga tax'

Carlo Garganese

• 25 Nov 2025 14:01 CST
• 4 min read

News

Thierry Henry has questioned whether the lower standard of the Bundesliga is the reason why Florian Wirtz has struggled so much since joining Liverpool this summer.

Wirtz has been a disaster since his joining the Reds this summer from Bayer Leverkusen in a deal worth €125 million - a then British record.

He produced another dismal performance on Saturday as Liverpool were beaten 3-0 at home by Nottingham Forest,

The result means Liverpool are in complete crisis, having lost six of their last seven matches in the Premier League and fallen to 11th place in the table.

What did Henry say?

“It’s not easy to arrive in a team and perform straight away, as we can see with Florian Wirtz at Liverpool. But I always have a question mark over people who perform in Germany. That’s only me,” Henry said.

“I’m not saying they won’t perform in another league, I’m just saying because of the way the league is there, really stretched, if you can run well you’re going to have a lot of opportunities, goals and assists. People can run with you in this league, so it’s very difficult.

“If we talk about creating… do you think that managers now are letting their players dribble? Or do they want to control everything to make sure they don’t get countered?

“Playing a low block all the time means it is not always easy to create. Look at Arsenal: we don’t always create a lot of opportunities. We score a lot of set pieces… You’re going to create a lot less than we used to be able to do in our time, because teams are playing low and they don’t try to bite or come out, so the spaces are tight.

“And if you don’t allow people to dribble and make mistakes – like I always said, the reward is in the risk – then where are you going? You’re not going to have the stats of creating, and if you don’t take your chances when you do then you’re in trouble.”

Wirtz has endured a dismal start to life in the Premier League. He has managed no goals and no assists in 11 matches.

Wirtz's performances for Liverpool are a far cry from his brilliance at Leverkusen.

Wirtz joined Bayer Leverkusen at the age of 16 after spending 10 years at youth club FC Koln.

He immediately developed into one of the most exciting young talents in German football, becoming Leverkusen’s youngest-ever Bundesliga debutant at the age of just 17 years and 15 days.

His rapid rise was tested when he tore his ACL as an 18 year old in 2022.

After missing 10 months of action, Wirtz returned and he soon reached even bigger heights during a historic 2023-24 season.

Leverkusen went the entire Bundesliga season unbeaten as they stormed to the title. They also won the DFB-Pokal and went so close to an unbeaten treble as they fell at the final hurdle in the Europa League final to Atalanta.

Wirtz played a key role in Leverkusen’s success with 18 goals and 20 assists in all competitions.

He was named Bundesliga Player of the Season and also impressed at Euro 2024 with two goals before Germany’s controversial quarter final exit to Spain.

Wirtz also impressed in the 2024-25 despite Leverkusen falling short in the Bundesliga and Champions League - beaten by Bayern Munich in both competitions.

The attacking midfielder scored 16 goals and provided 15 assists in all competitions.

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