LIVERPOOL are ready to spend £109million on Bayer Leverkusen superstar Florian Wirtz.
They moved quickly for the 22-year-old, who has snubbed German giants Bayern Munich to move to the Premier League champions.
GETTYThe Reds have bid £109m for the Bayer Leverkusen midfielder[/caption]
APFlorian Wirtz is said to be keen on joining Liverpool after a productive chat with Kop chief Arne Slot[/caption]
It will be a statement signing by Arne Slot after winning the title in his first season in charge at Anfield.
The Reds have already made their first move in the summer market, by recruiting Jeremie Frimpong.
The Bayer Leverkusen right-back, 24, makes the switch for £29.5m to replace outing Trent Alexander-Arnold who is joining Real Madrid.
The moves come on the back of new deals for Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah.
Wirtz is considered a generational talent in Germany.
And he will bring a touch of the unpredictable to Liverpool‘s attack next season.
Tactics expert Lee Scott believes Wirtz’s arrival will help prolong the career of one of their biggest stars.
Goal threat
Last season saw Wirtz contribute an impressive 16 goals and 15 assists in 45 games in all competitions for Bayer Leverkusen.
BEST ONLINE CASINOS – TOP SITES IN THE UK
His ability to create space for himself and to be decisive in the final third really stood out as key for Leverkusen as they attempted to retain their Bundesliga title.
He is dangerous in 1v1 situations when picking up possession wide or in the inside channel, or even centrally.
And when he is moving at pace he is a threat with his shooting from distance with the ability to generate power and accuracy.
Positionally when he is in the attacking third he does not really stick to one area and instead likes to drift to find himself pockets of space.
Wirtz had 10 goals in the Bundesliga last season
Looking at the current Liverpool squad it is likely that Slot will want to use him from the left of the three-man attack with Salah on the right.
This will give Liverpool game-changers on either side of the attacking three.
In the example below, Wirtz takes possession with the opposition, who are leading, in a deep defensive block.
The thing that makes Wirtz different to most young attackers is this defensive block is not a barrier for him.
He takes the ball and drives through the centre of the defence before scoring from the edge of the area.
Wirtz receives the ball wide on the left wing but has the ability to drive to goal from an unlikely starting point
Wirtz drifts into space but prefers the left side
Increasingly we have seen teams have to worry about the performances of Salah on the right side for Liverpool.
This means that teams tend to slide their defences slightly over to that wing.
They want more protection against the Egyptian king and try to stop him going 1v1 against a single defender.
Now, with Wirtz on the other flank, opposition teams cannot overload their defence on either side.
Next season Liverpool will have one of the most balanced and dangerous attacks in football.
Wirtz is also very comfortable in the inside channels when receiving the ball.
With rumours that Liverpool are also looking to add an attacking left-back, they could be well-equipped to break down deep and stubborn defensive blocks down that side.
In this second example, Wirtz is holding the width and playing on the outside of the deepest opposition defender.
As he receives the ball in these positions he generates real threat with his ability to drive inside and finish.
Wirtz is a genuine goal threat and is able to play on the wing or in the middle
Adding a player of Wirtz’s quality to their attacking options will increase the output from Liverpool in front of goal.
But it will also make it far more difficult for opposition teams and coaches to figure out how to defend against them.
Creativity in the final third
As we have already mentioned above, Wirtz finished with an impressive 15 assists in all competitions for Bayer Leverkusen last season.
While his goal output will be important for Liverpool in terms of adding direct threat to their attack, his creativity in and around the final third will also bring value for Slot’s team.
Wirtz takes intelligent positions on the pitch to receive the ball and often finds himself in a pocket of space.
The fact that he is then a threat to turn and drive at teams through the centre of the pitch makes defenders less likely to want to get tight to defend against him aggressively as they run the risk of being quickly outplayed.
The fact that they will then tend to sit off against him though just gives him the time and space to find passes to outplay the defensive line.
Wirtz has the ability to read the game, and here picks out the run of Garcia and pulls the ball back to the edge of the penalty area
Wirtz doesn’t always play the obvious pass.
Above, he goes out wide and gets his head up and instead of firing across goal as many other players would he identifies that the better ball is a deep cut back to the edge of the area to the incoming Aleix Garcia, who then scores.
One of the things that makes Wirtz such a dangerous player around the final third of the pitch is that he seems to be able to slow the game down and find time to get his head up to identify the best option.
Wirtz is one of the best passers in Europe
He is rarely rushed, even when under pressure, and he has the technical ability to stay on the ball and then find the correct option at the correct time.
Having a player who is a creative passer in their forward options will bring another dimension to Liverpool’s attack.
While they have the likes of Cody Gakpo and Luiz Diaz as options for the left side of their attack, both are more direct players who lack the killer pass.
In the example below, Wirtz is in possession with a solid defensive block ahead of him.
He sees the angle to bypass the entire opposition defence with a driven through ball for his striker.
Wirtz hits the killer pass to put the striker clean through on goal
Liverpool are obviously looking for ways to make themselves less predictable in attack.
Signing a player who is as creative and dangerous as Wirtz will go a long way to making that happen.
Intelligence in the opposition half
We touched on the fact that Wirtz is the kind of attacking player who is able to slow the game down when under pressure and in tight spaces.
This is a mark of his game intelligence and the fact that he has the technical level to be able to trust himself and his touch when under pressure.
He has an innate ability to be able to take the ball and make positive decisions which hurt the opposition defence.
He can get on the ball and either drive forward into the heart of the penalty area or play on the half-turn and play quick passes.
In the example below, he gets on the ball in the No10 position and immediately drives forward into the heart of the opposition defensive block.
Wirtz makes a driving run into the Dortmund defence
While this may not always lead to a shooting opportunity for himself, it pulls defenders towards him and create space for team-mates.
He scans and checks his shoulder often in the final third and this means that he will find himself in space.
This will allow Liverpool to quickly get the ball forward and into more dangerous areas of the pitch.
This time we see Wirtz occupying intelligent spaces in the final third and between the lines.
As he receives the ball he has no defenders in a position to immediately get touch-tight to him and he can take the ball and turn towards goal
Wirtz here has found space and can turn and run at the defence
With Salah perhaps being best as a front-facing threat who likes to get on the ball when facing the opposition goal, it is interesting that Liverpool are adding a player in Wirtz who is more creative with his positioning.
Again, this signing will make planning for matches against Liverpool very difficult for opposition coaches.
Conclusion
While the expected fee for Wirtz will be extremely high there is a sense that Liverpool will still be getting a bargain when they sign the German international.
They will be signing a player who can extend the effective career of Salah straight away and when they do eventually move on from the Egyptian they will have their next attacking talisman in the building already.
Creator – [#item_custom_dc:creator]
