Florian Wirtz has had ‘a very easy ride’ from critics since arriving in the Premier League for £116million, believes Jamie Carragher.
Wirtz struggled once again as Liverpool were beaten 3-2 against bitter rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Carragher has tried to give grace to Wirtz, who arrived from Bayer Leverkusen last summer, but believes any excuses must now go out the window.
‘The one player I think has had a very easy ride is Florian Wirtz,’ Carragher said on Sky Sports.
‘I’ve never moved clubs let alone moved to a different country. But, I think we’ve given him time. We’ve been very very kind.
Jamie Carragher (right) feels that criticism of Florian Wirtz (left) has been lenient this season
‘He was poor today. And even if Liverpool play really well, it’s still [Dominik] Szoboszlai and even at times this season [Mohamed] Salah.
‘Salah hasn’t been the Salah of last season, but he has still been one of Liverpool’s best attackers.
‘I commentated Liverpool away at Burnley earlier in the season and I described Wirtz as being neat and tidy.
‘I was being kind then. I wouldn’t describe him as anything different right now. He’s a year into his Liverpool career.’
The young German created three chances at Old Trafford and sent both of his shots off target in a display that often passed him by.
He moved out towards the left in the second half and things improved for Liverpool but Carragher needs to see a lot more to begin justifying such an enormous price tag.
‘They won’t get rid of Wirtz [in the summer] because they spent a lot of money on him,’ he continued.
Wirtz joined Liverpool for £116m but he has not been able to influence the biggest matches
‘But when you have a player like that who is so small, doesn’t cover the ground and maybe isn’t the quickest, everybody around him needs to be able to run.
‘You’ve got a luxury [player] if you like. Liverpool have too many like that without the ball – Curtis Jones… Mac Allister is the same, then you’ve got Wirtz.
‘I’d only want one in the team, but [Arne] Slot will want to play the Dutch way and I don’t think he’ll see it like that. He’ll want more technical footballers in there.’
