Former Liverpool favourite Didi Hamann has criticised Florian Wirtz and said time is running out for the attacking midfielder to save his Anfield career.
Wirtz, 22, only joined the Reds from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer for £116million, but despite the hefty expectations on his shoulders, he is yet to score or assist in the Premier League.
The German star has struggled to adapt to English football and he has come under fire in various quarters as Arne Slot’s side battle through a dismal run that has seen them lose nine of their past 12 games in all competitions.
And Hamann, who spent seven years at Liverpool between 1999 and 2006, has claimed Wirtz has not made the most of his opportunities.
‘Florian Wirtz has had chances to perform,’ he told CoinPoker.com. ‘He’s had chances over the last six to eight weeks, where the team hasn’t really fired since the start of the season.
‘Even the games against Bournemouth, Newcastle, and Burnley were all games they probably didn’t deserve to win, but they did, and he played in all of them. He’s had the chance for the last three months to perform.
‘What should make me believe he’s going to do it now, because the team seems to be in disarray? It’s not easy when you come in and there are cracks or problems within the team, and I don’t know what it is or why it is.’
Hamann, who has regularly commented on Wirtz since his summer move, went on to pinpoint the reasons as to why he feels the 22-year-old is struggling.
‘He doesn’t look happy at the moment,’ he added. ‘He’s a player who learned football on the streets, and that’s how he played for Leverkusen, and this is why he was so natural, he always did the right thing.
‘Now he doesn’t do that anymore, he thinks too much. I think he works too much going backwards, which credits and honours him because he wants to help the team.
‘But obviously, he was brought in to impact games on the other side of the pitch, and he hasn’t done it so far.’
Hamann went on to boldly claim that given his struggles, a temporary move away from Liverpool for Wirtz could be the best solution for all parties, before he ominously added that he felt the German’s bad start may be difficult to turn around.
‘I think he’s got until Christmas now to show his worth,’ Hamann said. ‘That is not easy because, as I said, the team is not functioning at the moment.
‘If he doesn’t do it from now until Christmas, I’m pretty sure that the club will get together with him and see what the best would be for both parties.
‘Could he still leave Liverpool on loan in January? Yeah.
‘Obviously with all the help and all the protection from the club and the manager, if you bring somebody in for that amount of money, then maybe he should be the one, even though he’s still very young, then maybe you expect him to turn things around.
‘The way he’s playing at the moment, I’m not sure he’s capable of doing that. And when I watch him sometimes I’m thinking, has he lost belief because it is in the Premier League?’
Hamann continued: ‘Sometimes when I watch him when he loses possession, I’m thinking maybe it’s because it’s a lot quicker, a lot more physical, as if he were to say: “I’m not sure that’s for me”.
‘I hope I’m wrong, but this is how it looks to me. Sometimes if it’s going on for too long, it’s very hard to turn it around.’
Liverpool, who are currently 12th in the Premier League, return to action on Sunday with a trip to West Ham. They then face games against Sunderland and Leeds over the following seven days.
