Liverpool: Slot signing has ‘until Christmas’ to save Anfield career as January exit route mooted
Former Liverpool midfielder Didi Hamann has explained why he thinks one summer signing only has “until Christmas” to save himself at Anfield.
In the summer, Liverpool spent over £400m on a huge squad overhaul as they made a significant statement after winning their 20th Premier League title.
The Reds broke the British transfer record twice to sign Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, while they also invested heavily to land Hugo Ekitike, Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez and Giovanni Leoni.
Ekitike is the only one of these signings who has consistently performed well this season, while the rest have rightly been under immense scrutiny.
Wirtz is impressed in flashes, but he has been bullied in certain games and is taking time to adapt to life in the Premier League.
Hamann has been far from impressed with Wirtz and explained why he only has “until Christmas” to prove himself at Liverpool.
“He doesn’t look happy at the moment. He’s a player who learned football on the streets, and that’s how he played for Leverkusen, and this is why he was so natural, he always did the right thing,” Hamann told Coin Poker.
“Now he doesn’t do that anymore, he thinks too much. I think he works too much going backwards, which credits and honours him because he wants to help the team.
“But obviously, he was brought in to affect games on the other side of the pitch, and he hasn’t done it so far. Having said that, it might take a little bit of weight off his shoulders because people clearly saw this past weekend that he is not the problem. Despite that, so far he’s been very disappointing.
“I think he’s got until Christmas now to show his worth, which is not easy because, as I said, the team is not functioning at the moment.
“I think if he doesn’t do it from now until Christmas, I’m pretty sure that the club will get together with him and see what the best would be for both parties.”
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Hamann has also argued that he could see Wirtz leaving “on loan” in the winter transfer window.
“Could he go somewhere else on loan? Yeah,” Hamann added when asked whether Wirtz could leave Liverpool in January.
“Obviously with all the help and all the protection from the club and the manager, if you bring somebody in for that amount of money, then maybe he should be the one, even though he’s still very young, then maybe you expect him to turn things around.
“I don’t think, the way he’s playing at the moment, I’m not sure he’s capable of doing that. And when I watch him sometimes, you know, thinking, has he lost belief because it is in the Premier League?
“Sometimes when I watch him when he loses possession, I’m thinking maybe it’s because it’s a lot quicker, a lot more physical, as if he were to say: “I’m not sure that’s for me.”
“I hope I’m wrong, but this is how it looks to me. Sometimes if it’s going on for too long, you know, it’s very hard to turn it around.”
