A contextual analysis of Florian Wirtz’s start to life as a Liverpool player

Written on 10/09/2025 (during the first international break of the season)

People are ready to analyse every little action of Florian Wirtz in a Liverpool shirt, aren’t they? Part of that is because he’s the second most expensive transfer in British football, and the other part is down to him being a German international who turned down Bayern Munich to come to Anfield.

It’s sometimes easy to forget that he is only 22 years old, having left his native country and the relative comfort of the Bundesliga to test himself in what is currently the toughest and most intense league in the world. All of this comes with the added pressure of representing the biggest club in the country, with a huge price tag looming over every newspaper article written about him.

To add to that, Liverpool’s first three games were far from straightforward. Their opponents so far: Bournemouth, Newcastle United and Arsenal, all finished in the top-10 last season, and the fixtures against Newcastle and Arsenal came with their own narratives. To steer through a difficult start, following wholesale changes to the starting XI after a huge transfer window and against the backdrop of the tragic loss of a dear friend in Diogo Jota, Liverpool and Wirtz have done well to come away with maximum points.

Based on last season’s standings, Liverpool had the toughest start to the campaign. There is, of course, the caveat that Manchester United’s and Tottenham Hotspur’s finishing positions were a little ‘false’. But come on, United have shown no signs of improvement so far, and Bournemouth exposed how Spurs still need time under Thomas Frank before we can say their 17th-place finish last season was entirely misleading (they are a top-half side, but still).