“There’s a pressure and expectation” – Former Chelsea star on Florian Wirtz

“There’s a pressure and expectation” – Former Chelsea star on Florian Wirtz “There’s A Pressure and Expectation” – Former Premier League Star Reacts To Florian Wirtz’s Recent Performances Florian Wirtz has dominated headlines since his £116m move to Liverpool last summer. After years of success with Bayer Leverkusen, the German was expected to light up the Premier League. However, that hasn’t quite happened so far. The 23-year-old has managed just eight goals and 14 assists in 60 appearances for Liverpool across all competitions. Just one of those goals have came in his opening 11 appearances of this season when he found the back of the net in Liverpool’s 4-3 win over Villarreal. But there has been positive signs in recent weeks. Wirtz enjoyed a successful international break with former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp. He suffered a false start in his initial return to domestic football after being hooked in the 3-0 defeat to Manchester City. Since then, he put in a strong performance in the Reds’ 6-3 win over LASK in the Champions League, grabbing an assist in that one. He then done the same in the 2-1 win over Brentford, this time setting up Victor Munoz for his equaliser. Then came the goal against Villarreal, before having a goal taken off him in the 2-0 win to Brighton, which has since been credited as a Pascal Grob own goal. Of course there is still plenty of work to do before he can get close to living up the hype that surrounded him upon his arrival on Merseyside. But there is progress. Former Chelsea forward Pat Nevin, speaking exclusively to Anfield Index, shared his thoughts on the midfielder’s struggles… Wirtz Under Serious Pressure “The first thing is, he didn’t decide how much money he was sold for, so that’s nothing to do with him. He can’t help that,” began Nevin. “I’ve been in that position. When I got bought, the next player after me bought by Everton was for the record for an English player and I was half of that. So it it’s £120m now, I was basically £60m then!” Nevin continued, “I thought ‘what’s that got to do with me?’ It’s nothing to do with me. I’ve just got to play.” “But somewhere in the background there’s a pressure and expectation. I think you can feel that and see that with Florian Wirtz,” said Nevin, “There’s the expectation of not only the huge price tag, but he’s replacing Mo Salah.” “That’s really unfair because there’s only one Mo Salah and he’s one of the legends of English football, never mind that great football club,” he continued. Photo: IMAGO “But has he come close to doing what we expected? And, by the way, I add myself to that because I watched his technical ability before he came to Liverpool and thought ‘Yeah, he’ll do.'” “There are reasons. New team, new style, new country. Add all that in and that gives you about six months. After that, those stop being reasons and those become excuses,” said Nevin, “He’s now in the realm of: ‘You’ve got to do it mate.’ The numbers have got to be better.” “It’s worrying times for him. At the very most, he’s got until the end of the season and then they have to say ‘No, it’s not working.”