Slot told he's done £116m star dirty at Liverpool as journalist reveals MAJOR doubt in player's mind

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has been told his failure to play Florian Wirtz in his best position is to blame for the £116m summer signing’s early-season struggles at Anfield, with one man branding him the ‘worst signing of all time’ and lamenting his dismal 0-0-9 record for the Reds.

The Premier League champions allowed Slot to lavishly spend some £440m (€505m, $600m) on new players this summer as he sought to put his own stamp on the Liverpool squad he inherited from Jurgen Klopp the previous year. And while the Reds are top of the Premier League with six games played so far, it is fair to say that the Dutchman is yet to get a consistent tune from several of his new recruits.

One of the headline acts to arrive was Wirtz, joining in a whopping £116m (€140m, $160m) package from Bayer Leverkusen in June – a British record deal at the time.

However, the much-heralded Germany international has struggled since moving to Anfield, and put in another almost anonymous performance on Tuesday as the Reds put in a limp display to lose 1-0 to Galatasaray in the Champions League.

Now pundit Nigel Reo-Coker feels Slot must take some of the blame for Wirtz’s struggles, having suggested the Dutchman has not played to the player’s strengths, nor allowed him to play in his preferred central position.

“I don’t feel that Arne Slot has found the right way to put him in this Liverpool side with other players around him,” Reo-Coker told CBS Sport in the wake of their loss in Istanbul.

“He’s a number ten for me. He’s a number ten that has to be behind the striker. You have to have him in the middle of the pitch on the half turn and make things happen.

“I’ll make a comparison to Eze at Arsenal – very similar. Eze is at his best when he’s in the number ten role. Florian Wirtz has to be a number ten.

“For me, you have to start putting a bit more responsibility on these players. They’re not performing, really and truly.

“He’s one of the players that has gone to the club, you talk about creativity and making chances happen, he’s not making it happen.”

In light of Reo-Coker’s claims, it is worth noting that Wirtz has been selected as an attacking midfielder in the majority of his outings for Liverpool so far.

And in light of that claim, European football expert Kevin Hatchard has called on Liverpool fans to show some patience with their big-money signing, though has revealed the seeds of doubt that have been planted in Wirtz’s mind….

ICYMI 🔴 New position for Florian Wirtz touted as alarming stat underpins £116m superstar’s Liverpool struggles

Liverpool must show patience with struggling Florian Wirtz

After a Liverpool fan called into a radio station and branded Wirtz the ‘worst signing in Premier League history’ and having demanded he is sold off the back of going nine games without a goal or assist, Hatchard has called on Reds supporters to show patience.

He told talkSPORT: “A bit of patience is needed.

“It’s not happening for him. I think the pace of play is what he’s struggling with at the moment.

“He’s taking an extra touch. He’s maybe not quite making the ball move as quickly as he normally would and he’s getting caught out.

“When you have such a big money move and you have that change of club and change of country you want to hit the ground running.

“When it doesn’t happen, there’s just that little seed of doubt in his mind. But I’m 100 per cent convinced it’s going to happen for him.”

Hatchard added: “Look at the team that was unbeaten and won the league and the cup that season, which Bayern have never done by the way, and got to the final of the Europa League that same season.

“He was the best player. He wasn’t the only top player. Granit Xhaka was important. Jonathan Tah was important, but he was outstanding.

“If you look at the Champions League last season, he got five man-of-the-match awards for Leverkusen. It’s in there, but that whole team was geared towards what he could do.

“He’s gone to Liverpool, and he’s one of several. It’s not been built around him, and I wouldn’t expect it to be. But Liverpool are in that transition where they’re trying to renew the team.

“They’re trying to not be as reliant on Mo Salah, even though Salah’s still brilliant, but they’re not being as reliant on him, and that’s going to take time.

“So that’s the reason they paid so much for him. He was in demand because Bayern absolutely wanted him.

“Leverkusen didn’t want to let him go, so that played into it as well, and you’re also buying potential because he’s still in his early 20s with a lot of room to grow.”

Liverpool icons offer their advice

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher also feels Wirtz is one dilemma Slot has to fix, branding current performances a “mess”.

“I’m not watching a top team,” Carragher told CBS Sports.

“Liverpool are not playing football, they are playing basketball. And I told [Arne] Slot this on the first game of the season against Bournemouth. They obviously have a fantastic manager.

“Liverpool last season were a top team, but also a workmanlike team, which they’ve sprinkled a bit of stardust on in terms of the transfers they have brought in. And they haven’t gained anything going forward, but they’ve lost a lot defensively.

“I think for the manager now, he now needs to really earn his money. He did last season, by winning the Premier League, but there are few problems he has got to fix.

“It will be really interesting how he does about it, because he spent a lot of money on certain players. Right now, the balance of the team is not right, and the obvious one that stands out is Florian Wirtz, who is just not at the races at all.

“He’s a young boy, coming to a new league, and has plenty of time to go. But right now, he needs to come out of the team, Liverpool go back to what they were last season, and try to build some confidence and some stability. Right now it looks like a mess.”

Legendary former player and manager Kenny Dalglish, meanwhile, believes Wirtz can eventually come good but must not abandon the talents that made him who he is.

“The first thing he needs to do is what he’s doing at the moment,” Dalglish said on the Stick to Football podcast.

“He’s great at taking the ball into the feet, he’ll open himself up and the pass has beat you but he’s still got control of it. Or he’ll take it the other way back past you to go that way and you’re going this way.

“He can see what’s in front of him, and once he gets it…I saw Isak the other day, the second half when he came on I think, and he’s talking to one of the boys about his movement, what he would do.

“And the boy is sitting and listening to him and once they get on the same wavelength…By the way, that wee fella, he could open a can of soup.”

Latest Liverpool news: World-class Atletico star linked; huge Konate U-turn

Wirtz isn’t the only issue for Slot to contend with, either, as he wrestles with the form of another summer signing Jeremie Frimpong, who was signed as a right-back but used in a more advanced role against the Turkish champions on Tuesday.

However, that experiment also failed and we have asked if Liverpool have blundered by signing the Dutchman, with two damning stats exposing Slot’s conundrum.

Elsewhere, a bold new update on Ibrahima Konate has absolutely skittled claims of a move to Real Madrid and suddenly given the Reds huge new ‘confidence’ their No.5 could be set to sign a new deal after all.

Meanwhile, Liverpool winger Federico Chiesa reportedly has offers on the table from four sides to leave Anfield – and a transfer journalist has revealed what the Italy star is likely to do once the winter window opens for business.

And finally, sources have revealed how a world-class Atletico Madrid star could have his head turned by Liverpool, though, having also made clear the LaLiga side’s desire to keep the talismanic attacker.

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