The secret to success for Florian Wirtz to live up to his icon potential | OneFootball

Arne Slot had made a comparison with Harvey Elliott. He had already mentioned his biggest buy as a successor of sorts to Alisson and Virgil van Dijk. Then he reached for the ultimate, and not merely Mohamed Salah, by invoking Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. No pressure there, then.

Perhaps Florian Wirtz’s £100m price tag brought it anyway, even before his manager mentioned the two dominant players of their generation and one of the greatest in Liverpool’s history. And, as Wirtz prepares to make his Premier League debut, while Slot believes the German could take time to adjust to the particular tactical demands of his team, he does not feel youth or inexperience will would be mitigating factors.

But then Slot thinks Wirtz has the mental strength to cope; perhaps that is why he was unafraid of giving Liverpool’s new No 7 the challenge of emulating three players with more than 2,000 goals between them; albeit not by actually scoring 2,000 goals.

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Arne Slot thinks Florian Wirtz has the mental strength to cope with the expectations (Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

“Why are Messi and Ronaldo and Mo so highly regarded?” he asked. “Because they are always fit. Every single game, they are fit and that is something that Florian first has to show in a league like ours. If he is able to stay to fit then our fans will see great moments.”

And, too, the possibility Wirtz will take a title-winning team to another level. “That is something I can only answer in the upcoming years,” said Slot. “Everything we expect is very positive but between expecting and realising something is different.”

Wirtz is different in other senses. Slot likes to talk about his £300m outlay in the context of the players who have left. So Jeremie Frimpong’s arrival could be necessitated by the departure of Trent Alexander-Arnold, just as Hugo Ekitike replaces Darwin Nunez and the impending signing of Giovanni Leoni will take Jarell Quansah’s spot in the squad.

But Wirtz replaces no one. He is designed to add another dimension. “He is a different profile to what we have,” said Slot. “He might be a bit similar to Harvey. But Harvey didn’t play that much. The two of them have something in common as well as a profile. But he is a different profile to Ryan [Gravenberch], Macca [Alexis Mac Allister], Dom [Dominik Szoboszlai], Curtis [Jones]. That is what we wanted; to bring a different profile in rather than adding something that already had.”

Wirtz was a statement signing; wanted by Bayern Munich, of interest to Manchester City and Real Madrid. “It is very positive that we could bring in such a highly regarded player but I think Liverpool has always been able to bring in these kinds of players,” said Slot. “I think Liverpool have done this before. With Alisson Becker we spent so much money, with Virgil we spent so much money, and with inflation I think it is the Liverpool signing. We mainly make these signings. But again, we also sell. If we make these signings, we also have to sell players.”

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Wirtz was a statement signing from Liverpool (PA Wire)

Alisson cost £65m, Van Dijk £75m, each made possible by Philippe Coutinho’s move to Barcelona. Slot may have put Wirtz in the tradition of Kenny Dalglish, signed for a British record £440,000, but funded by Kevin Keegan’s sale to Hamburg, or John Barnes and Peter Beardsley, bought with the proceeds of Ian Rush’s transfer to Juventus.

Each was a success. At 22, Wirtz has arrived at an earlier stage in his career than each of his predecessors. But, when Bayer Leverkusen won their maiden Bundesliga title, he was named the best player in the division. “He might be young but he already won a lot,” said Slot. “Factually, we can see him as a young player but in terms of his experience, I don’t see him as a young player. He won the league with Germany, won the cup, has played for his country numerous times and apart from that, his mentality is his biggest strength. That says a lot because if you see him play, you’re like: ‘Are you serious because he’s so creative?’ But how mentally strong he is, he doesn’t get distracted at all by a transfer fee or anything else. Good players always find a way to play well in good teams and he is a good player in a good team.”

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Wirtz adds a new dimension to Arne Slot’s setup (REUTERS)

Leverkusen often played 3-4-3. Liverpool prefer 4-2-3-1. “He needs help in how we want to play,” added Slot. “The system is different but we want to be intense like Xabi Alonso wanted him to be intense. Xabi wanted to bring him in positions we try to bring him in. But it’s true he adjusts to England, the league, the intensity and to his new team-mates buts if you saw the games, his adjustment went better than expected and we expected a lot.”

Part of the adjustment has nothing to do with Slot. “We have a very good player care department so I’m not looking for houses with him or these kind of things,” he smiled. But Anfield is Wirtz’s new home. And whether or not he plays like Salah, Ronaldo or Messi, Slot first wants him to play as often as them.