Arne Slot gives verdict on Florian Wirtz Liverpool price tag
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Liverpool signed Bayer Leverkusen playmaker Florian Wirtz for a fee of £116m on a five-year deal this summer.
While Wirtz is yet to score a goal or register an assist in the Premier League since his move, he delivered his most encouraging performance in Wednesday’s 3-2 Champions League win over Atletico Madrid.
Arne Slot is confident Wirtz has the right mentality to handle the Merseyside derby, insisting the Germany international wouldn’t have reached the Premier League without it.
The Reds boss, whose side host Everton on Saturday, also claimed Wirtz will not be intimidated by the price tag,
“I think to say that he’s [only] an artist doesn’t do him justice,” Slot said.
“He is an artist, but he can be mean as well.
He works incredibly hard here in this building to get better and better and better.
“So that mentality he has inside of him and you also see that mentality when he loses the ball once or twice.
In general, it’s not just about Florian, we have to play three games in seven days.
“And if you’ve watched what we did on Sunday and what we did on Wednesday, we are trying to manage to get them all fit through these three games because it’s not a present that we got to play in the beginning of the season three games in seven days.
“We [don’t have] long conversations [about fees].
It is not Eredivisie, and I think the Bundesliga is in between Eredivisie and the Premier League.
“So maybe that’s also the reason why he and Hugo Ekitike loved to come here because they want to make the next step in their career.
He just has to adapt to the intensity levels of the Premier League.
“As much as I like him and as much as I think he’s a good player, we have so many good players that are already here.
These kinds of things you get from playing a lot together.
“So, yeah, as much as I think how good of a player he is, I wouldn’t put him up there with the rest over there.