Florian Wirtz Embraces New Season at Liverpool
Florian Wirtz has barely broken sweat in pre-season, but he already sounds like a player reborn.
Back at Liverpool for only a couple of days, the German playmaker has thrown himself into Andoni Iraola’s first sessions and, crucially, likes what he sees.
“The training is really fun,” Wirtz said. “I enjoyed every training session. We play a lot of games and possessions, and that’s exactly what I like. I just enjoyed it until now.”
For a player of his profile, that detail matters. Iraola has made it clear he sees Wirtz strictly as a number 10, not shunted out wide. Everything in these early days is being built around that idea: sharp, possession-heavy work, constant small-sided games, the ball always close.
A clean slate after a flat first year
Wirtz’s first season at Anfield was not a disaster, but it never quite caught fire. Seven goals and 10 assists is a solid return on paper; it still fell short of the expectations that followed him from Bayer Leverkusen.
“Of course I wasn’t happy at all — about the season, I mean,” he admitted. “I was not unhappy every day when I came to training, but I think we expected much more.
“I think we start from zero this season. Also here with this training camp, it’s a new start. We have a lot of things to do better this season and I’m very excited for season two.”
That phrase – “start from zero” – will resonate around Liverpool’s dressing room. Arne Slot has gone, Iraola has arrived, and with him comes a different kind of intensity. For Wirtz, it’s a reset both in role and responsibility: the creative hub, not a spare piece on the flank.
Two new managers, one pivotal year
This will be a season of new voices for Wirtz. At club level, Iraola. On the international stage, a familiar name in a very different context: Jürgen Klopp, now in charge of Germany.
“It’s very, very cool that [Klopp is] there now,” Wirtz told club media. “I’ve not spoken to him yet but a lot of people here at the club told me about him, that he is a fantastic guy. All of Liverpool loves him. So, I’m very excited to meet him in a few months.”
The irony is obvious. Klopp, the man who shaped Liverpool’s modern era, will now be the one trying to unlock Wirtz for the national team, just as Iraola attempts to do the same at Anfield. Two demanding coaches, two big stages, one 21-year-old at the centre of it all.
Isak “massive” to Wirtz’s next step
If Wirtz is to explode in his second season, the cast around him will be vital. Directly ahead of him, Alexander Isak is finally fully fit and, by all early accounts, sharp.
“I think he has come in a good place,” Iraola said of Isak earlier this week. “I think he was good in the World Cup. I saw him comfortable. First training sessions here, I think I’ve seen a good version of Alex.
“Still, it’s very early because he has just started training, but I hope he can have some minutes against Leeds and build properly a proper pre-season.
“It’s not going to be very long but he will have three or four weeks of quality training, I hope, and we can put him in a good place because he is going to be massive for us this season.”
A fit, confident Isak gives Wirtz exactly what a number 10 craves: movement, depth, a focal point to bounce passes off and slide through. If Liverpool can also strike a deal with PSG for Bradley Barcola, as expected, the German could soon find himself threading passes into a front line built for pace and incision.
Wirtz called this “a new start.” With Iraola shaping the system, Isak leading the line and Klopp waiting for him in Germany colours, it feels like something more: the season in which he either becomes Liverpool’s true conductor — or watches the chance slip by.
