Liverpool appear to be landing a fierce competitor, judging by comments made from one of Florian Wirtz’s ex-coaches as they close in on a club-record deal for Bayer Leverkusen star
Florian Wirtz is expected to seal a club-record move from Bayer Leverkusen to Liverpool this week. And the Reds appear to be securing a player whose determination to win has been apparent since a very young age.
It was confirmed last Friday that Liverpool had reached an agreement with the Bundesliga side for the player, after they fended off competition from Bayern Munich and Manchester City to land the German international.
One of Wirtz’s former coaches has now revealed what Arne Slot can expect from Wirtz, detailing the young star’s ferocious desire once he steps out onto the pitch.
Martin Heck, who coached Wirtz in the youth set-up at Koln in Germany, has highlighted an instance when the youngster refused to speak to him for a week after Heck attempted to manage the midfielder’s minutes following an injury.
“It was clear that he [Wirtz] would only play 50 minutes and I told him weeks before: ‘Flo, your first game back will be in Bochum, but you will only play 50 minutes’,” Heck told The Athletic. “He says, ‘OK, coach, I’m fine with it. I just want to be back playing.’
“But I knew what would happen once he got back on the pitch. So, the Monday before the game, I talked to him and said: ‘Flo, remember — 50 minutes!’ ‘Yes, no problem, no problem.’ Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, I said the same thing.
“So, the game starts and after half-time, everyone knew that Flo would be substituted. But when I called his name, it was like he hated me. He was swearing on the pitch. He was kicking the grass. He was waving his hands. He didn’t talk to me for five days!
“I was just laughing because we won the game. His team-mates were laughing, too, because they knew that it would happen. But this is Florian Wirtz the footballer. I’m convinced that this is the thing that’s special compared to other players.”
There is a confidence behind the scenes at Liverpool that the acquisition of the attacking midfielder can take the Premier League champions to the next level. His pending transfer is hoped by club officials to be as impactful as when Liverpool landed Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker in 2018.
According to Heck, the Reds’ hierarchy may well be on the money with their prediction, with the 42-year-old first feeling the buzz around Wirtz when he was just a 10-year-old.
“He was that outstandingly good that you had to pay attention. So, I knew him five or six years before he came to me,” Heck added.
“When he was 15, he already played like a professional in the Bundesliga. It was not only his skills and his technique, but the game he played in his mind. He played football like it was chess and he did things you normally don’t see in youth players. He would think about what comes in the second or third phase, after passing the ball. It was amazing.”
He continued: “But when anyone asks me, ‘What’s special about Florian Wirtz?’, I say that he has the greatest ambition I’ve ever seen in football from a player, young or old.
“His will to win. You could see that when he was 10 years old, when he was with me at 16 years old and nowadays, too. He can’t stand losing, and that’s something he has had from the very beginning.”
With personal terms not expected to be an issue, and following a routine medical this week, Wirtz is set to become Liverpool’s most expensive player ever, with the club paying £100 million up front, and £16m in add-ons, for the 22-year-old’s services.
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