Why Bayern Munich Still Believe in the Player Liverpool Can’t Get Firing
Fourteen months after losing out on him, Bayern Munich have not stopped paying attention to Florian Wirtz, and the longer his first year at Liverpool goes without truly catching fire, the more that attention looks worth having. The Bundesliga giants were priced out of a £116m deal when Liverpool moved for the Germany international in the summer of 2025, and by most accounts their admiration for him has barely dipped since, even with his early struggles on Merseyside plain to see.
A Slow Start That Won’t Go Away
There was a period last year when the acquisition of Wirtz, alongside the club’s move for Alexander Isak, was held up as proof Liverpool intended to build on their Premier League title with real conviction. Beating Manchester City to one of the continent’s most sought-after young midfielders was meant to be a statement. Instead, the numbers from his debut season made for uncomfortable reading: five goals and three assists in 33 league appearances, hardly the return anyone at Anfield had budgeted for. Five games into the new campaign, under new head coach Andoni Iraola following Arne Slot’s departure at the end of May, Wirtz has one assist and is yet to open his account.
None of this is being framed as a full-blown crisis by anyone credible, and it would be unfair to expect any player, however gifted, to be the finished article after just over a year in a new league, a new country and a new football culture. Wirtz built his reputation on close control, vision and an ability to find pockets of space between the lines, qualities that do not always translate instantly to the physicality and pace of the Premier League. Even so, Liverpool did not pay a club-record fee for a project that takes several seasons to bear fruit. The higher the outlay, the shorter the patience tends to run, fairly or not.
Bayern Watching, Liverpool Waiting
According to TeamTalk, Bayern continue to regard Wirtz as a player of real quality and are keeping tabs on how his relationship with Liverpool and his new head coach develops over the coming months. There is no suggestion from the report that Liverpool are looking to move him on, and the expectation inside the club appears to be patience rather than panic, with some figures privately wondering whether he can hit the level his price tag implies.
That patience has a limit though. Liverpool’s fifth-place finish last season, and the fallout that followed Slot’s exit, means there is less appetite for prolonged rebuilding projects than there might once have been. Iraola is said to be confident he can get the best out of Wirtz, and the player remains central to his plans, but according to the report his situation would be revisited at the end of the season if the expected upturn does not arrive.
For Iraola, still finding his feet himself after replacing Slot in the summer, Wirtz represents one of the clearest tests of whether his ideas can get more out of Liverpool’s most expensive individual talents. Getting him back to the level that made him one of the most sought-after attacking midfielders in Europe would go a long way toward settling the early scrutiny around both player and head coach. Falling short would only add fuel to a narrative Liverpool would much rather put to bed quickly.
Our Take
Supporters who watched Liverpool commit £116m to Wirtz did not sign up for a season of caveats and wait-and-see updates. Nobody is questioning the talent. He did not become one of the most coveted attacking midfielders in Europe by accident, and there will be games this season where that quality shows itself clearly. But a title-chasing club cannot keep absorbing underwhelming numbers from a player bought to be transformative, and it is not unreasonable for fans to want more end product sooner rather than later.
The Bayern angle will needle a few people too. Liverpool should not be in a position where a rival is casually circling barely a year after paying a club-record fee, hoping a difficult adaptation turns into an opportunity. If Iraola believes he can unlock Wirtz, this is the season to show it. The faith shown in the player has been considerable. Now it needs repaying.