The most uncomfortable part of Jamie Carragher’s latest criticism of Florian Wirtz was not his verdict on the Bournemouth performance.
Most Liverpool supporters could see that Wirtz struggled. He was loose on the ball, slow to impose himself and did not look like a £116 million attacking midfielder capable of taking control of a difficult Premier League away game.
The more provocative part came afterwards.
Carragher suggested that Wirtz may not actually be suffering from poor form at all. Perhaps, he argued, Liverpool are simply seeing what the player is.
That is a much bigger claim.
Questioning what Wirtz has produced for Liverpool is fair. Deciding, at 23, that 55 appearances have revealed the limit of his ability is something else entirely.
Carragher is right about one thing
Liverpool did not spend £116 million on Wirtz for neat and tidy football.
🗣️ "I don't think Florian Wirtz is in poor form, what we're seeing is what he is"
Jamie Carragher says he is worried for Florian Wirtz and doesn't see how he will hurt teams ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/umgZ0ZgfzK
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 20, 2026
That part of Carragher’s argument is difficult to dispute.
Speaking after Liverpool’s 1-0 win at Bournemouth, Carragher questioned how often the German actually hurts opponents.
“I actually think what we’re seeing is what he is.”
That followed another difficult afternoon for Wirtz. His first-half passing accuracy at Bournemouth was just 63 per cent, the lowest of any Liverpool player, and Andoni Iraola replaced him after 71 minutes.
It is not an isolated complaint.
Wirtz’s Liverpool record now stands at seven goals and nine assists in 55 appearances in all competitions. In the Premier League, the figures are five goals and four assists from 38 appearances.
Those numbers do not match the fee, the reputation or the expectation that accompanied his arrival from Bayer Leverkusen.
There is no point pretending otherwise.
Bournemouth was poor – but it was not quite nothing
Carragher’s frustration at the Vitality Stadium was understandable. At one point during the first half he complained that “nothing” was happening with Wirtz.
Visually, it often felt that way.
But there is a danger in allowing a disappointing performance to become simpler in retrospect than it actually was.
Wirtz still created three chances, joint-most in the Liverpool side. He won six of his eight ground duels and made eight defensive contributions. Most importantly, he was involved in the move that produced Alexander Isak’s winning goal.
Cody Gakpo’s cross reached Wirtz under pressure before the ball looped into Isak’s path for the decisive finish.
None of that turns Wirtz’s afternoon into a good one.
It does show why “nothing” is too easy a description.
Iraola saw some improvement too. He acknowledged that Wirtz started slowly but said the German found better positions to receive and turn as Liverpool improved after the opening stages.
That is a rather less dramatic assessment than writing the player off, but probably a more useful one.
The player Liverpool bought really did exist
This is where Carragher’s argument becomes harder to accept.
If Liverpool had paid £116 million for a young player based largely on potential, it would be reasonable to wonder whether the scouting had simply overestimated him.
That is not what happened.
Wirtz played 197 competitive games for Bayer Leverkusen. He scored 57 goals and provided 64 assists. That is 121 direct goal contributions before his 23rd birthday.
During Leverkusen’s unbeaten Bundesliga title-winning season in 2023/24, he was named Bundesliga Player of the Season after recording 11 league goals and 11 assists.
Nor was his reputation built only on domestic football.
In his final Champions League campaign with Leverkusen, Wirtz scored six times during the league phase and was named UEFA Player of the Match in five of his eight appearances.
This was not some beautifully edited scouting compilation that fooled Liverpool’s recruitment department.
There was a very good footballer there.
Which makes the more interesting question obvious: why have Liverpool seen so little of him?
Liverpool have still not quite found his game
Wirtz was at his most dangerous for Xabi Alonso as a left-sided attacking midfielder with freedom to drift inside, find space between lines and accelerate towards goal.
He could begin wider, move into the left half-space and receive with enough separation from a defender to turn and carry the ball forward.
That detail is important.
At Liverpool he has often operated as a more conventional central No 10, where Premier League opponents can crowd the space around him and put immediate pressure on his first touch.
That does not absolve Wirtz. Elite players have to adapt.
But Liverpool also have to create conditions in which their most expensive attacking midfielder can show the qualities for which they bought him.
An earlier BBC tactical analysis of Wirtz’s first Liverpool season identified precisely this problem: he was receiving the ball with less separation and under greater pressure than he had at Leverkusen, while also carrying a substantial defensive workload.
Changing manager from Arne Slot to Iraola has not automatically solved it.
Wirtz is still spending much of his time behind the striker. He is still searching for the spaces in which he can turn towards goal. And Liverpool are still trying to balance his position with the considerable strengths of Dominik Szoboszlai.
The Szoboszlai problem is real
This is one area where Carragher’s criticism deserves particular attention.
If Wirtz occupies the No 10 position, Szoboszlai is generally asked to operate deeper.
Carragher does not believe that gets the best from the Hungarian, and Liverpool cannot structure an entire midfield around helping one expensive signing settle if it makes other important players less effective.
That is where Iraola has to be ruthless.
Wirtz’s transfer fee should buy him patience. It should not buy him an automatic place in the team.
If Liverpool are better balanced against Manchester City without him, leave him out.
If Szoboszlai is the better No 10 on current form, play Szoboszlai there.
There is nothing contradictory about believing Wirtz can become a major Liverpool player while also believing he may need time on the bench.
Selection is about the next match. Judging a career is something different.
Wirtz now has to give Liverpool something undeniable
The uncomfortable truth for Wirtz is that patience eventually needs evidence.
There have been clever touches. There have been promising combinations. There have been matches where the underlying numbers suggest more influence than the eye immediately remembers.
But Liverpool did not sign him to become a player whose performances require an explanation afterwards.
They signed him to decide games.
That means goals. Assists. Passes that remove defenders. Runs that change the shape of a match. Partnerships with Isak, Gakpo, Barcola and the other attacking players that become obvious rather than theoretical.
That is the next step.
Wirtz will spend part of the international break with Germany under Jürgen Klopp, who has already urged people to look beyond individual goals and assists when judging his contribution.
That may be exactly the environment Wirtz needs before returning to Liverpool.
But ultimately Klopp cannot answer this question for him. Neither can Iraola. And neither can Carragher.
Wirtz has to do it on the pitch.
Carragher can demand more without closing the case
Carragher is right to demand more from Liverpool’s record signing.
Seven goals and nine assists in 55 games is not what Liverpool thought they were buying. Bournemouth was not good enough. And Wirtz should not be protected from selection decisions because of the number attached to his transfer.
But “he needs to do more” and “this is simply what he is” are not the same argument.
The first is supported by what Liverpool supporters have watched for more than a year.
The second requires us to ignore what Wirtz did before he arrived.
Liverpool did not imagine the player who helped transform Leverkusen, produced 121 goal involvements and became the Bundesliga’s outstanding player. That footballer existed.
The challenge now is finding him in a Liverpool shirt.
And if 55 appearances are enough to decide that a 23-year-old has already shown everything he will ever become, we have stopped analysing the problem and started rushing to the verdict.
Wirtz has plenty to prove. Carragher is right about that.
But the case is not closed.
