Florian Wirtz made his official Liverpool debut on Sunday during a disappointing defeat to Crystal Palace in the Community Shield.

The Reds will not lose too much sleep over their failure to beat Palace on penalties, but the likes of Wirtz will be frustrated at having missed out on a first chance of silverware.

Despite a bad ending to the day, though, Wirtz had reason to be pleased with his performance.

The German made a big call by joining Liverpool this summer, turning down strong interest from Bayern Munich.

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Moving from Bayer Leverkusen to Bayern would have been the obvious step for Wirtz, but he ultimately chose to forge a different path in the Premier League.

One player who left the Bundesliga to go abroad with great success was former Leverkusen and Bayern midfielder Toni Kroos.

And after watching Wirtz take a similar move, Kroos has given his honest opinion.

Photo by Paul Harding – The FA/The FA via Getty Images

Part of the reason Liverpool signing Wirtz was so surprising was because it felt inevitable that he would land at Bayern.

The German champions seemed certain the 22-year-old would join them and were left furious when Liverpool won the race.

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But although many at his former club will have been upset with Wirtz this summer, Kroos wrote in Kicker to praise the ‘mindset and conviction’ of his former national team colleague.

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“In my opinion, you’ve done everything right by moving to Liverpool FC,” said the Real Madrid legend.

“And it’s underpinning your mindset and conviction.”

As well as affirming that his move to Liverpool was the right one this summer, Kroos also gave a glowing review of Wirtz in his column with Kicker.

“You’re a very special player, on so many levels,” he wrote, after Liverpool’s No.

Your sense of moving in the right spaces, your first touch, your final pass, and even your finishing—everything is special.”

“And then there’s your mentality!

You don’t take any nonsense—you carry a small but incredibly important portion of arrogance within you, which I hope you never let go of.”

Anyone who was watching Wirtz during Sunday’s runners-up medal ceremony will confirm what Kroos is saying here.

The attacking midfielder looked furious.

That all bodes well for Wirtz to have a stellar career at Anfield, and excitement is building for what he can offer the Reds in the short, medium and long-term future.