Liverpool's £116m Star Wirtz Struggles, Says Neville

Florian Wirtz, Liverpool's marquee £116 million summer signing from Bayer Leverkusen, has come under fire from former Manchester United defender Gary Neville for his lackluster performances in the Premier League.

The 22-year-old has yet to score a goal or provide an assist in his first 11 Premier League appearances, with his most recent outing against Manchester City described as "a real worry" by Neville. Liverpool suffered a disappointing 3-0 defeat at the Etihad Stadium, leaving them eighth in the table after 11 games.

"Wirtz is a problem," Neville stated on his podcast. "He's £100m+, and he's got to start delivering. He's a really good player, technically fantastic, but he's been overpowered and hasn't delivered the quality we expect."

Neville suggested that while Wirtz has shown promise in the Champions League, he has struggled to adapt to the physical demands of the Premier League. The pundit called for patience but also urged the young midfielder to step up and prove his worth.

"He's a Germany international of great standing, and he looks well short in respect of what you'd expect in a top physical Premier League match," Neville added. "They've got to get him up to speed and bring out the best in him."

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has experimented with Wirtz's position, initially playing him centrally before moving him back to his preferred left-wing role. Despite a strong performance against Real Madrid in the Champions League, Wirtz struggled against Manchester City.

Neville also criticized Liverpool's overall performance, describing it as one of the worst he had seen from the club in a long time. He called on the team to reflect and address their issues, both in attack and defense. "Their tempo in the game was nothing," Neville said. "They looked physically really, really short in the game, they looked physically short in terms of their running, physically short in terms of actually just getting out-muscled."

With Arsenal eight points clear at the top of the table, Neville urged Slot to find solutions quickly to turn around Liverpool's fortunes in the Premier League.