“At The Heart Of Things.” – Kevin Hatchard On ‘Super Intelligent’ Liverpool Target | OneFootball

By Leah Bower

From what seemed like a frantic start to this mini-transfer window, Liverpool have slowed down ever so slightly following the arrival of Jeremie Frimpong, as we await confirmation of more signings.

One of those potential signings is Bundesliga star player, Florian Wirtz, who has caused Red’s to pay avid attention to Germany’s matches in the Nations League to get a glimpse of the talent we could well be in for.

Dan spoke with sports broadcaster and Bundesliga commentator, Kevin Hatchard, about Wirtz; the transfer itself, his development, injuries, and how great he’d be at Anfield.

On Bayer Leverkusen’s firm stance:

“German clubs in general are pretty savvy about the transfer dealings they do because their health relies on it.

“The thing to bear in mind with this is that he really is the jewel in the crown for Leverkusen. So they were never going to go, ‘Oh, you want to leave? Okay, away you go.’

“It was always going to be a very complicated negotiation.

“I think there’s a general willingness to do it. Wirtz has obviously made it clear, which is a huge boost for Liverpool, that he wants to go, and those personal terms have been agreed.

“You’ve got to bear in mind they’ve lost their coach, they’ve lost their best defender in Jonathan Tah, and they are going to lose their best player by far in Florian Wirtz. So they need to get enough funds to try and give Eric Ten Haag what he wants for the new Leverkusen era.”

On Wirtz’s rising talent:

“There was buzz about him before he even put the boots on for Leverkusen, because his actual arrival in the first place caused quite a stir.

“Köln, Gladbach and Leverkusen generally didn’t take each other’s youth players. But Leverkusen brought him in from Köln. Köln are still very sore about that.

“So you knew already this had to be a special talent for Leverkusen to do that, that had to be a special player.

“Then he started playing and he realised how good he was, and the fact that he scored his first ever goal in the Bundesliga against Bayern, and it was a really good goal as well, and he became at the time the youngest ever Bundesliga scorer.”

On his injuries:

“He took his time to come back from his ACL injury.

“After a while, it was like he’d never been away. Obviously, if a player has had an ACL injury, that is a slight concern. That’s always going to be there.

“But he’s looked very strong.

“He came back earlier than expected from his ankle injury.

“Maybe he wasn’t his best self, and maybe he came back a little bit too quickly. But I think what that shows you is the dedication. He wanted to be part of that title push.”

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On his abilities:

“He’s super intelligent. That’s the first thing.

“Has a great picture of what’s around him. Sees passes that a lot of people don’t see. So he has that creative element.

“He’s got a little bit of Thomas Muller about him in the sense that he always seems to know where to be, picks up the right pockets of space.

“He can play ball with the outside of his boot if he has to, like a really nice cross or he can just make goals in lots of different ways.

“I think the second part to talk about is actually the defensive part because it shouldn’t be taken for granted. Not every player is willing to do it, but he will press and press and press, and I think Xavi Alonso has really, really improved his game in that regard.

“That’s obviously going to be a natural fit for what Arne Slot wants. Liverpool are aggressive without the ball. So he’s got the defensive side as well.

“Then in terms of the goal scoring, scores all types of goals.

“He can score from range, but he can also beat people in the penalty area and score. He can’t tuck the ball into the bottom corner. He’s got lots of different weapons in the arsenal when it comes to scoring goals.

“In each of the last two Bundesliga seasons, he’s been in double figures for goals and double figures for assists.

“His fellow players voted him as the player of the season, which I think tells you a lot.”

On what needs to improve:

“I think it’s going to be about the physicality, him being robust, because there are teams that targeted him and tried to kick him out of the game, and that’s going to happen in the Premier League.

“The other thing will just be about learning exactly what Arne Slot wants … But for me, all the raw material is there. It’s just a question of adaptation.

“It may well be that he gets a bit stronger over time. He’s not a weed, but that’s an area we can probably improve and will improve.”

On where he would play:

“I think he needs to be at the heart of things.

“Arne Slot may create a kind of custom position for him, he may well say, ‘you’re the ten, we’ll build the rest of it around you.’

“I don’t know if [being a false nine] is getting the best out of him. I think he needs runners around him. I think he needs the ability to slip that ball through to a centre forward or wide forwards.

“I’m sure that one of the central planks of Slot’s pitch to him would have been, ‘this is where I think you can play. This is where I think I can get most out of you.’

“And whatever that was, will have been something that excited him.”

On his mentality:

“I like his attitude. He’s quite happy to mix it with people. He’s quite happy to be a chatty to players if he needs to be.

“There’s a fierce competitive spirit there. Really, he’s a winner. He’s absolutely a winner.

“He was dropped for a game against Dortmund, he was a bit unlucky. To be fair, he was late for the meeting because the traffic in that area can be pretty awful where he was.

“But what I liked about it was that he dealt with it fairly well.

“I don’t think Liverpool would have committed this much finance to this deal if they had any doubts about his temperament.”

On Liverpool’s approach:

“It’s a statement.

“This is what happens when you keep your powder dry, because what it means is when the big opportunity comes, you can take it.

“The perceived wisdom in Germany was that he was going to Bayern.

“This is quite a big deal for Liverpool to have been willing to commit the finance to it because it’s a huge chunk of money because it’s not just the transfer, it’s the wages as well. It’s a big contract.

“To actually get in ahead of Bayern and persuade a top German international to join you instead of going to Bayern, that is as big a megaphone as you can get for your statement.”

On Wirtz’s potential impact at Liverpool:

“I anticipate him being a big success.

“I anticipate him, injury permitting, being a player that Liverpool fans absolutely love for the next few years.

“You look at the trajectory Mo Salah’s had at Liverpool, I’m not saying he’s going to get that volume of goals, of course, but could he be elite at Liverpool for a very long period of time? Absolutely.”

To find more of Kevin Hatchard, find him on X – @kevinhatchard, where he’ll be doing Club World Cup previews and some commentary over the summer.

Redmen Reacts

The thing that stands out most for me is how we have managed to convince a German with this much talent to play for us rather than Bayern. His apparent eagerness to join the Reds almost speaks more to me than his abilities on the pitch, although that is a welcome bonus.

For Kevin to say he’s a player that fans will love for years to come makes me so excited for what’s ahead.

This signing truly is a huge statement to show how seriously we are taking Number 21.