Florian Wirtz's Struggles at Liverpool: A Luxury They Can't Afford

Florian Wirtz arrived at Liverpool as the next great Anfield artist. Right now, he looks more like a luxury the club can no longer afford to wait on.

The Germany international, signed for huge money to be the creative heartbeat of a new era, is still searching for a spark at the start of the 2026-27 season. Two seasons may be all he gets to prove he belongs on Merseyside. He may not even get that.

Hamann’s stark warning

Dietmar Hamann, never one to sugar-coat a verdict, has laid the situation bare. Speaking to GOAL, he made it clear that the time for patience is almost over.

"He's got to start playing well. He has to start influencing the game," Hamann said, underlining a problem Liverpool fans have seen too often: Wirtz drifting through matches rather than grabbing them.

Hamann described him as a player who “floats”, a talent who has not yet earned the kind of respect that allows teammates to do the dirty work for him. That bargain only works one way: others will win the ball back if, when it reaches Wirtz 10 times, “six, seven, eight times, something's going to happen”. At Liverpool, Hamann argued, “that's just not the case.”

So Wirtz has gone the other way. He is chasing, tackling, tracking back. Too much, in Hamann’s eyes. The German great sees a player trying to compensate for his lack of attacking impact by overworking defensively, losing the balance that once made him special.

"He's not there to win balls," Hamann insisted. "He's there to set up goals and score goals."

Last season offered only a “handful of games” where Wirtz truly did that. For a player of his fee and reputation, Hamann called it “simply not enough.”

The Premier League test

The familiar explanation is the league itself. The Premier League is more physical. It asks different questions. Hamann accepts that, but he also points to a long list of big names who never fully answered those questions.

He referenced Juan Sebastian Veron, who arrived in England as one of the world’s finest midfielders and left after a single season back to Italy. Some players “just can't do it or don't want to do it,” Hamann said.

Early on, he urged patience with Wirtz. Give him “two or three months”. He even said the playmaker was “too good to fail”. That belief faded as the season dragged on.

“Once it went past Christmas, I said, I don't think he's going to crack it anymore because it's too long now. Because expectations are not getting any less.”

Those expectations have only grown heavier this term. Wirtz was substituted again after 60 minutes in Liverpool’s opening game. If that pattern continues, Hamann believes the noise around him will become deafening within weeks.

If Wirtz does not start influencing games “in the next three or four weeks,” Hamann expects the extended international break to be dominated by questions. Did Liverpool make a mistake? Should they have bought him at all? And, crucially, will Wirtz himself start to wonder “maybe this is not for me”?

For a player “of that magnitude, of that stature, the amount of money he costs,” Hamann is blunt: “it's simply not enough. You've got to find a solution somehow, maybe even in winter, if things don't get better.”

The position puzzle

Layered on top of the form debate is the positional one. Nobody seems completely sure what Wirtz is at Liverpool. Is he a classic No.10? A left-sided forward drifting inside? Something in between?

Hamann does not see that as a get-out clause.

He acknowledged the internal noise about how well Wirtz trains, but argued that a line should already have been drawn. “There does come a point, and I think the point was last year after Christmas, where somebody should have said, ‘listen lad, either you do it or in the summer… maybe we've got to find a solution’. Because they can't wait forever.”

Wirtz was bought to be “the main man”. That was the job description. The role, not the role’s coordinates on a tactics board.

Hamann admits he once saw him as a No.10, but he refuses to blame Wirtz’s struggles on being used from the left. If a No.10 “doesn't create the chances or doesn't score enough goals, then obviously somebody else has to play” – especially now, with Bradley Barcola arriving to add direct competition in the attacking positions.

“It’s a tricky situation for players in England,” Hamann said, and Wirtz is now right at the heart of that reality. The price tag, the reputation, the promise – all of it is colliding with the unforgiving rhythm of a league that does not pause for adaptation stories.

Liverpool wanted a conductor. What they have, for now, is a question mark. The next few weeks will decide whether Wirtz becomes the centrepiece they paid for, or the cautionary tale they never thought they were signing.