Former Liverpool and England striker Stan Collymore believes Jurgen Klopp, now in charge of Germany, will end up having more influence on Florian Wirtz's Liverpool career than any club manager, simply by validating him in a shirt he already feels comfortable in. Wirtz scored for Germany against Serbia in his last international window, and Collymore sees that kind of performance, and the confidence Klopp can instill off the back of it, as the more realistic route back to form than anything that happens at Anfield in the short term.
Speaking exclusively to The Action Network, Collymore explained why Rayan Cherki's electric start compared to Wirtz's struggles says as much about the players around them as it does about either individually, and why Mohamed Salah's shadow has made life harder for every big-money arrival since. He also gave his verdict on Alexander Isak's prospects, and on whether Liverpool fans would welcome Trent Alexander-Arnold back from Real Madrid.
Klopp's blessing matters more than Iraola's team talks
It's clearly been a difficult start to life at Liverpool for Florian Wirtz. There's no hiding that whatsoever. Yet Collymore thinks his relationship with Wirtz, which will be forged at international level rather than club level, could be the single biggest factor in turning his Liverpool career around.
"I watched the Germany vs Serbia game the other night and he obviously scored a cracking goal. With somebody like Jurgen Klopp that's been at Liverpool, he'll be saying to Wirtz that we've both been at this club and you're a great player and you're incredibly important for Germany."
The logic rests on where confidence tends to return from. A goal away from the relentless grind of the Premier League, Collymore argues, often does more for a player than anything said in a dressing room.
"I think it's going to be a case where despite him not being his club manager, Jurgen Klopp will probably be the man that has the biggest impact on his Liverpool form because of him putting an arm around him in a Germany shirt."
"Wirtz played for a club that he managed and won the Premier League, and Klopp knows how great it is, and often when players need to kick on, and to develop and get confidence, it's usually when they play in a League Cup or a Champions League game or a Europa League game and they score a couple of goals and the pressure of the week in, week out, Premier League grind is off their shoulders."
The international break, in other words, might be doing more rehabilitation work than any club game could for the struggling attacking midfielder.
"The other one is international football [soccer], and I think undoubtedly you could see that from Wirtz's performance the other day and if he translates that into a Liverpool shirt, then he can start to rebuild his confidence."
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Neither Wirtz nor Isak will hit elite numbers, and that's fine
Collymore is careful not to oversell what Liverpool should expect from their two headline attacking stars in Wirtz and Alexander Isak, setting the bar below the Premier League's current benchmarks rather than at them.
"If I'm being honest, it's going to be difficult barring a miracle for both Wirtz and Isak to start hitting Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland numbers respectively. But that doesn't mean they can't massively add to what Liverpool are trying to do, which is to win Premier Leagues and win European Cups."
What worries him more is how hard it is to shake off the bad form once a new signing has already fallen behind the pace of the league.
"I think that once you start lukewarm at a club, even when a new manager comes in, I think that it is very difficult then to hit the ground running and then all of a sudden have this sort of golden spell. So I think that Florian Wirtz will contribute to Liverpool, and then it's down to other people to decide whether he's been value for money when he leaves Liverpool. With Jurgen Klopp being Germany manager and Iraola, a very good manager at Liverpool, they'll put their arm around him and his output will be significantly better than what it's been to date."
Cherki has what Wirtz doesn't: a finisher next to him
Wirtz's move from Bayer Leverkusen was repeatedly compared to Rayan Cherki's switch to Manchester City, and the gap in their respective starts has been stark. Collymore's explanation begins with confidence but quickly moves to something more structural.
"In the Premier League you've got to have super confidence, and I think that without a doubt Cherki has that in spades. I also think the biggest single indicator of a player's success is the two or three players around him in his position."
A creative player's output, he argues, is shaped almost entirely by who is running in behind, which is where the comparison between Cherki and Wirtz and the players that they have around them becomes an issue.
"If you're a central striker and you've got somebody exceptional on the left and the right that is constantly putting balls in for you like an Erling Haaland has, then you're gonna score a lot of goals. That's going to give you a lot of confidence and then all the other bits and pieces come together. I think that with Wirtz he's had a difficult time with Mo Salah gone, Gakpo's been in and out, Isak's come in and got injured, Ekitike has come in, started very well, and then obviously got injured."
Cherki, by contrast, according to Collymore, has the simplest job description in soccer: find Haaland, or find whoever finds him.
"There's been a lot of flux around him as a sort of creator, and I think that if you're a Rayan Cherki for example, your job is to find Erling Haaland or to find somebody that will find Erling Haaland. Your job all of a sudden becomes so much easier, so I think that to be fair to Wirtz there's been a lot going on around him."
None of that, Collymore stresses, excuses Wirtz from needing to deliver, and he sets out exactly what kind of run of form would change the conversation.
"However, there's no doubt about it, he has to significantly up his output for Liverpool. He needs a run of games whereby he's 8/8.5 or a 9 out of 10, for people to start talking about him in the top 5 or top 10 Premier League players, which I don't think he's anywhere near yet, and from Iraola's perspective, he will have to come up with a more settled Liverpool lineup."
"There needs to be a more settled understanding of the players around him, and that's a natural thing. If you've just got a lot of players coming in and out of the team and you're messing around with systems and you haven't got that focal point like a Haaland, it can be difficult."
Salah's shadow made life harder for every new arrival
The deeper issue, in Collymore's view, predates this season entirely, which is interesting. The combination of Wirtz, Ekitike, Salah and Isak on paper is mouthwatering and full of technical ability and goalscoring prowess. However, Salah's standing at the club meant no new signing was ever walking into a locker room built around them, according to the ex-Liverpool man.
"The power and the influence that Mo Salah had at Liverpool has stopped the likes of Isak and Wirtz coming in on day one and being top man, and I think that's important for big, big name signings. They're coming in, they have to be top man, they have to feel as if the club is built for them on day one and it wasn't. It was still very much Mo's house, so I think there are lots of powerful arguments to suggest why Florian Wirtz hasn't been at his best."
