AnalysisAn expert's view on Florian Wirtz: Style of play, system fit and Frimpong chemistry

The gifted playmaker completed his transfer to the Premier League champions from Bayer Leverkusen earlier this month, sparking an immense amount of excitement among the fan base.

Wirtz arrives at the Reds with a reputation as one of the most promising talents in world football following five-and-a-half successful years with Leverkusen.

For the lowdown on the Germany international, Liverpoolfc.com sought the expertise of Andy Brassell, a writer and broadcaster specialising on the game across Europe. Read on to see what he had to say…

Firstly, can you give us some background on Wirtz's breakthrough at Leverkusen and becoming their key man?

He signed to Leverkusen [from Cologne in 2020] with the pitch from them that they were going to fast-track him into the first team. He arrived in the January and they made it clear that, even though he was still young, they were going to get him in there straight away. It only took him a couple of months to make his debut. Leverkusen signed him with the sense that, 'You're coming straight away to one of the best clubs in Germany and you're going to play.'

If you've been to Leverkusen, everything's in the same place. The stadium, the training ground, they're all in the same spot, and it's a place where there's not really that much to do. You just get your head down and work. For a young player, it would be such an exciting place to immerse yourself in football and learn everything.

How is his style of play best described for those who haven't seen him play?

He's just a great dribbler, he's just great at going past people. I spoke to Xabi Alonso about him around 18 months ago when I was over in Leverkusen and he said, 'Look, tactics are just a shape and I trust the players to interpret everything as they see fit on the pitch. But Flo gets a little bit more freedom than everyone else.' He trusted him to use his dribbling, his passing and his goalscoring ability in just the right spots. He was given that bit of freedom.

He's kind of given that freedom for Germany to a certain extent. The fact Julian Nagelsmann has often used the 4-2-2-2 that has been the house style at RB Leipzig and a lot of the Red Bull clubs for ages has really worked when he transplanted it to Germany in Euro 2024. A lot of people thought they couldn't get both Jamal Musiala and Wirtz in the same team. Nagelsmann was like, 'Actually, in the 4-2-2-2 you can because we're going to have two No.10s.' It worked really well.

How influential was he in Leverkusen's stunning 2023-24 campaign that saw them win a league and cup double as part of a record-breaking unbeaten run?

Hugely influential. When Alonso took over, he'd just come back from an ACL [injury] and it took him a while to get going again. I think the way that Alonso managed him as well in the title-winning game – when he came on as sub and scored a hat-trick against Werder Bremen – no-one is dropping Wirtz from the XI. But I think the fact Alonso dared to drop all of his good players at some point kept them fresh, and that was certainly the case for Florian Wirtz.

Where do you see him fitting in Arne Slot's system at Liverpool?

I have this little theory that it might give Liverpool a bit of flexibility. If you played him ostensibly in the middle of a front three, so if that three was Wirtz in the middle, [Mohamed] Salah right, maybe [Luis] Diaz or [Cody] Gakpo on the left, the fact that Wirtz can kind of drop out – he can still get in those advanced positions and score goals – it maybe makes a front two. We know that those guys can all play in central positions, they're all great goalscorers.

He also played with fellow Liverpool signing Jeremie Frimpong at Leverkusen. What do you think supporters can expect from the Netherlands international?

They're very good mates on and off the pitch. They click well because Frimpong makes those runs and it means that Wirtz can find him with the passes. Frimpong transformed into an incredible player at Leverkusen. He was given this extra freedom by Xabi Alonso to pop up in these advanced positions and, as time went by, he learned how to capitalise on those positions a bit better.

He was always good at finding the space with his pace and then he got better at making the last pass and then he got better at making the finish. That's to the extent where the Netherlands have been playing him in an advanced role in the recent internationals, so the right side of a 4-3-3. He's someone that could stand in for Salah if you wanted to give Salah a bit of a rest. He's really developed this incredible versatility and has become a lot more clinical and better at using the space that his pace gives him.