Liverpool’s Wirtz Gamble: Decision Point Approaches as Hamann Raises Concerns

Liverpool did not just sign Florian Wirtz. They staked a chunk of their future on him. A marquee arrival, a statement fee, a player expected to light up Anfield and bend games to his will.

That hasn’t happened. Not yet. And patience, even on Merseyside, has a limit.

Former Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann believes that limit is fast approaching.

“He’s got to start influencing the game”

Speaking to GOAL in association with Betinia NJ, Hamann cut through the noise when asked what Wirtz needs from this campaign and when exit talk might become unavoidable.

"He's got to start playing well. He has to start influencing the game," he said, laying down the simplest and harshest requirement for an attacking talent signed to be “the main man”.

Hamann’s criticism is not about effort. If anything, he thinks Wirtz is working too hard in the wrong areas.

"Now he's working very hard going backwards. I think sometimes he's doing too much. He wants to help the team because he sees that he can influence the game going forward," Hamann explained. In his view, the balance is off. Wirtz is tracking back, chasing, plugging gaps – but not doing the thing Liverpool bought him for.

"He's not there to win balls, he's there to set up goals and score goals," Hamann said. That, in the dressing room, is the currency that buys you freedom and respect.

Respect in the dressing room – and the missing spark

Hamann painted the picture of a player stuck between roles. A gifted technician “who floats”, as he put it, but one who has yet to convince his teammates that his freedom is worth their graft.

"You've got to give him certain liberties and a certain freedom, that you've got players who win the ball back for him. And the players don't mind doing it if when he does get the ball 10 times, six, seven, eight times, something's going to happen. That's just not the case," he said.

Last season offered only “a handful of games” where Wirtz truly delivered. For a player of his price tag and profile, Hamann called it “simply not enough”.

The Premier League’s physical edge is no secret, and Hamann referenced one of the most famous examples of a superstar who never quite adapted.

He recalled Juan Sebastian Veron arriving “lauded as the best midfield player”, only to last a single season before heading back to Italy. "Some just can't do it or don't want to do it," Hamann said, leaving Wirtz hovering somewhere in that uncomfortable space between potential and proof.

Time running out – and a winter flashpoint looming

Hamann admits he initially preached patience. Two or three months, he thought. Time to settle. Time to adapt. Time for class to show.

"I said he's too good to fail," he recalled. But when Wirtz still had not caught fire after Christmas, Hamann’s stance shifted.

"Once it went past Christmas, I said, I don't think he's going to crack it anymore because it's too long now. Because expectations are not getting any less."

The new season has not reset the clock. If anything, it has sped it up. Wirtz was withdrawn after an hour in Liverpool’s opening game, another sign that his grip on a starting role is far from secure.

Hamann believes the next few weeks could define the story.

"I think if he doesn't start influencing games in the next three or four weeks, I think by the time we have that international break, which is longer this year, I think we have a lot of paper talk, a lot of discussions, whether the club should have bought him... And maybe him thinking, ‘well, maybe this is not for me’."

He went further, suggesting a concrete turning point if the form does not improve.

"I think something will happen because for a player of that magnitude, of that stature, the amount of money he costs, it's simply not enough. You've got to find a solution somehow, maybe even in winter, if things don't get better."

No.10, left forward… or nowhere?

Wirtz’s position has become a debate of its own. Is he a classic No.10, pulling strings between the lines? Or a wide forward starting from the left, drifting inside, arriving in the box?

Hamann is not convinced that tactical nuance can hide the bigger issue.

"He was bought to be the main man. And I wouldn't blame it on the position that he plays on the left," he said.

He revealed that a year earlier, the plan had been to see Wirtz as a No.10. But that role comes with ruthless demands.

"If you've got a number 10 who doesn't create the chances or doesn't score enough goals, then obviously somebody else has to play – especially with [Bradley] Barcola coming in," Hamann pointed out.

Training-ground excellence, he argued, can only carry a player so far.

"I know everybody said how well he does in training and all this. And there does come a point, and I think the point was last year after Christmas, where somebody should have said, ‘listen lad, either you do it or in the summer, we see what's happening in the World Cup, maybe we've got to find a solution’. Because they can't wait forever."

Liverpool’s looming call

Liverpool invested heavily in Wirtz with the expectation that he would shape their attack for years. Instead, two seasons now feel like an unofficial deadline.

If he explodes into form, the conversation changes overnight. The dressing room buys in. The freedom returns. The debate over his position becomes a luxury problem.

If he doesn’t, the questions Hamann is asking in public will be the same ones being asked behind closed doors at Anfield.

How long can a club at Liverpool’s level wait for a star signing to become the player they thought they were buying?