Liverpool manager Arne Slot believes that midfielder Florian Wirtz is finding his feet at the club and will keep getting better. The German scored his first Premier League champions in their 2-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Liverpool signed Wirtz in June for a reported fee of 100 million pounds ($135 million), with a further 16 million pounds in potential bonuses.
However, after the big money signing, the 22-year-old failed to scored in more than 20 appearances for the club before he found the back of the net on Saturday.
Slot believes that Wirtz’s contribution has been undervalued due to obsession with statistics. “I’m quite sure it was a relief for him. This I could see after his reaction after he scored the goal – and the same I saw with his teammates. I think they were really happy for him,” Slot told reporters. “In football – rightly so, maybe – we mainly get judged on results, and individuals mainly get judged on goals and assists. Sometimes we tend to forget what else there is to do during a game.”
On Saturday, Fritz latched on Hugo Ekitike’s through ball before poking past goalkeeper Jose Sa in the 42nd minute making it 2-0 for his club.
“I was confident that I would score one day,” said the Germany midfielder, who was signed from Bayer Leverkusen in June. “I just know that it will come and I try to keep going like that.
Keep going now
Slot has called on Writz to keep going after ending his drought.
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The Dutch manager called on Wirtz to keep going after ending his drought.
“He’s had multiple good games for us but I also feel he gets better and better every single game he is playing for us. He gets fitter and fitter and was getting closer and closer to his first goal,” he added.
“Then it was not a surprise to me that he scored one today, but he would probably be the first one to understand that one goal is not enough.
With this win, Liverpool has entered the top four with 32 points but they sit ten points behind league leaders Arsenal, who defeated Brighton.
Liverpool will host 16th-placed Leeds United in a league match on January 1.
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