‘An artist who can be mean’: Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz has a dark side, insists Arne Slot

Florian Wirtz has a darker side on the pitch that can help him thrive in the Premier League, according to Arne Slot. The German playmaker said recently he was still adapting to the intensity of English football but that the challenge of doing so was one of the key reasons behind his move from Bayer Leverkusen.

The 22-year-old is poised for his first taste of a Merseyside derby on Saturday when Everton visit Anfield and it will be an important test of Wirtz’s attributes. He has helped Liverpool start the season perfectly but is yet to contribute a goal or an assist. His performance in the 3-2 Champions League win over Atlético Madrid in midweek was his best, suggesting he is beginning to settle.

“To say that he’s an artist doesn’t do him justice,” Slot, the head coach, said. “He is an artist, but he can be mean as well. Otherwise, you can’t reach the levels he’s reaching. He works incredibly hard here in this building to get better and better and better. So that mentality he has inside of him and you also see that mentality when he loses the ball once or twice. He’s not going to hide, he wants the third one, he wants the fourth one.”

Wirtz, who made his name as a dynamic creator in his homeland, plays as a No 10 and is learning the idiosyncrasies of Hugo Ekitiké, Alexander Isak and the other forwards.

“He’s adjusting, in my opinion, very well,” Slot said. “It gets better and better every single game. He always wants to have the ball, even if he has a few moments where we feel like he could do better. He just always wants to keep the ball, always keeps on trying. And he gets better and better, and fitter and fitter.

“That’s maybe the thing that matters most, because we don’t have to teach him how to play football. He just has to adapt to the intensity levels of the Premier League.”

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