Echo

Germany chief reveals Florian Wirtz admission about Liverpool transfer - 'He certainly thought'

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Liverpool beat off competition from Bayern Munich and Manchester City to secure the services of Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen during the summer transfer windowRudi Voller has claimed Florian Wirtz thought it would be easier to secure a place in Liverpool’s starting line-up. However, Wirtz only showed brief glimpses of his talent in the opening weeks of the season.And although he is yet to officially open his account in the Premier League, he has impressed in recent weeks as his side returned to winning ways.READ MORE: Alexander Isak Liverpool injury timeline confirmed as Conor Bradley and Cody Gakpo updates givenREAD MORE: Mohamed Salah scores last-minute AFCON winner as Liverpool star breaks Zimbabwe heartsAnd German legend Voller, the current DFB sporting director, has revealed what Wirtz has thought about his time at Liverpool so far.“Florian is essentially playing in Liverpool with the same self-confidence he displayed on the pitch in Leverkusen,” he told German newspaper Sport 1.“However, he’s not being sought out as often on the field as he was when he wore the Bayer Leverkusen jersey.



But he has to earn that.“(The fee is) not the problem. Florian has to persevere through this.“I’m sure it’s only a matter of time until he’s truly settled in there and gives Liverpool what he wants to give and, above all, what he’s capable of giving.”Speaking earlier this month, Liverpool head coach Arne Slot revealed that Wirtz has undertaken a weight-gain programme in an effort to adapt to the Premier League's physicality."To come back to your question, I hope I made it clear that I am talking not just about the new players (who have needed to adapt) but players in general, Florian has improved a lot," Slot said."I am not talking about his ability on the ball because we could see from the start that that was top."But I saw in one moment against Brighton where he took the ball off Dom (Szoboszlai), he dribbled and a player came to him and he pushed him away and kept on dribbling.

In those moments you see it gets easier for him."It takes a lot, a lot, a lot of effort for him to play in this intensity but he is getting used to it. I have played players during the season when you would usually take pre-season for that."The only way to get Florian stronger, Macca (Alexis Mac Allister), Conor Bradley, Joe Gomez, is to play games.