At the end of the 2024-25 season, Liverpool head coach Arne Slot flew to the south of France to honour talks with Rayan Cherki. Cherki was on Liverpool's shortlist in their hunt for an attacking midfielder but the main target was Florian Wirtz - who was also wanted by Bayern Munich and Manchester City. Once Wirtz said his preference was to move to Anfield and join the then-Premier League champions, the £116m deal became a formality.
At the time, his arrival felt like a quality acquisition for Liverpool, but more than a year on things are still not clicking. The German has scored seven goals and provided 11 assists over 56 Reds appearances, but had no goal involvements against any of the top-10 teams in the Premier League last season. This term, Wirtz has started every game in the league and Champions League so far - managing just one assist across seven matches.
Those struggles were summed up on Sunday against Manchester City when new Reds boss Andoni Iraola - who succeeded Slot in the summer - replaced Wirtz with Trey Nyoni in the 66th minute, shortly after Ryan Gravenberch was sent off and Erling Haaland broke the deadlock. Wirtz is only 23 but so is Cherki, who put the icing on the cake in City's 3-0 win at Anfield with an exquisite goal - the kind we have become used to seeing since his £30m move from Lyon in June 2025. Cherki cost less than a third of what Liverpool paid for Wirtz, but has already scored 16 goals and provided 18 assists in 65 City appearances.
The France attacker has also shown an ability to provide crucial game-changing moments. Liverpool fans haven't seen anywhere near enough of that from Wirtz yet. "Wirtz has so much ability.
I wish I had that ability because he just glides. He makes it look effortless - but he doesn't hurt teams," former Liverpool defender Steven Warnock told BBC Radio 5 Live. "He doesn't impact the game enough.
He drifts in and out of games. He's here for 10 or 20 seconds and then he disappears for five or 10 minutes and you think where is he now?" After Liverpool's defeat by Man City, Jamie Carragher said it was time for Iraola to drop Wirtz. "I think he needs to come out of the team, I said that last time out and I'm going to say it again," Carragher told Sky Sports.
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