Former Netherlands international Wesley Sneijder says Liverpool’s summer signing Florian Wirths is “done” at Anfield unless he quickly learns to adapt to the Premier League.
The Reds have struggled in the Premier League this season, losing 3-0 to Manchester City, their fifth defeat in 11 league games.
Goals from Erling Haaland, Nico Gonzalez and Jeremy Doku gave the Citizens a win over Liverpool, while Virgil van Dijk’s header from the Reds was ruled out for offside by VAR.
Liverpool, last season’s Premier League champions, currently sit in eighth place, eight points behind Arne Slott’s side and leaders Arsenal.
One of their main problems has been integrating new players into the squad, with the likes of Wirtz, Alexander Isak, Milos Kerkes and Jeremy Frimpong all facing criticism.
Slott has been criticized for trying to bring Wirtz into the team, with former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger recently claiming that Liverpool had “destroyed their midfield” by adding the Germany international to their squad.
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Wirtz has yet to score or assist in 11 Premier League appearances this season, but has contributed two assists and no goals in four Champions League games.
And former Real Madrid and Inter Milan attacking midfielder Sneijder believes Wirtz could “end up” at Liverpool unless he proves himself “soon”.
Snyder told Adventure Gamers:
“I always say this about players with a German or Dutch mentality: they can play well in their home country, but they often struggle to adapt to other countries.
“Wirtz was in the right place in Germany. Everything fit together well. But now he has taken a big step and in a big club there is no time to settle down. You have to get results quickly.”
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Sneijder was not the only pundit to be critical of Wirths after watching him play against Man City at the Etihad Stadium, with Gary Neville claiming he “looked like a boy”.
Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast:
“Let’s just say it like this. It’s a problem. He’s over £100m. And to be fair, I said a few weeks ago that (Milos) Kerkes looked like a little boy over there. Today I thought Wirtz looked like a little boy over there. That’s not the case.”
Neville added: “We’ve been sneaking around for a few months that he’s young and coming to a new country, but he’s worth over £100m so he has to get back on his feet quickly.
“He obviously has something, he’s a really good player, he’s technically great, but he was hurt today by Matheus Nunez and the other players.
“I was really concerned about his performance because he was being thrown around on the pitch and he wasn’t delivering in terms of quality.”
Neville continued: “He’s a German international of great standing, but he looks quite short compared to what you would expect from a top physical game in the Premier League.
“They’ve got to get him up to speed, they’ve got to instill a little bit of tenacity in him, and they’ve got to give him a little bit of something that means he starts to get back into shape, because what they have to do is stick with him and continue to be persistent.”
