Florian Wirtz is 'too good to fail' at Liverpool despite difficult start, says World Cup winner Benedikt Howedes
Florian Wirtz is yet to register a Premier League goal or assist since signing for Liverpool in the summer but Benedikt Howedes, a World Cup winner with Germany, is backing Wirtz to succeed in the second half of the season. "He is too good to fail," says Howedes
Thursday 18 December 2025 12:59, UK
Florian Wirtz has made an underwhelming start to his Liverpool career but the player is "too good to fail", according to former Germany international Benedikt Howedes.
The 2014 World Cup winner, who later served as Germany's team manager, was speaking to a small group of international reporters about the fortunes of German players in the Premier League.
"It is nice to see [Nick] Woltemade is playing a good role in the Premier League now, getting more and more experience on a higher level. It is always good when players are playing abroad and they are turning into better players because it is a different competition, you play against different players.
"You see that especially with Florian Wirtz, who was playing an outstanding role in Leverkusen.
"He was the player, not only a player, he was the player and he [had] so much fun last season in the Bundesliga that [when] you are changing club, maybe you don't get the full support or the same position from the early beginning like you had in Leverkusen and he has to create this again.
"But I would say he has so much quality, his mentality is so good and he will show how good he can be. I am pretty sure he will show this in Liverpool in the second part of the season because he is too good to fail."
Asked by Sky Sports whether he was surprised that Wirtz had not been able to take the Premier League by storm already, Howedes conceded that he was - but offered an explanation for the difficulties that his 22-year-old compatriot had faced.
"Yes, I was surprised a little bit that he was not able to show his best performance from the early beginning but he is still young. He is a young player, he is changing country, changing club for the first time in his life.
"He doesn't have his family or his friends around to give him full support, he doesn't have the players who know what he is fully capable of and maybe he don't feel the full trust from everyone, from the supporters, the club, the manager.
"Everyone fully trusted him in Leverkusen and now he has to improve himself step by step in Liverpool.
"I was a little bit surprised but I am pretty sure he will show a better performance in the second half of the season."
As a proud German, Howedes wants to see Wirtz back to his best in time for next summer's tournament.
"We need to get him back in his best performances. At the moment, he didn't reach his peak and that is what we ask him to do, bring him back his shape and bring him to the peak of his performance to create something special in the World Cup."
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Analysis: Wirtz better than some think
For Wirtz, there is no escaping the fact that he is still without a goal or an assist in the Premier League. That is bound to attract derision given the £116m fee that Liverpool paid Bayer Leverkusen to bring him to the club in the summer.
He has been close. It was his shot that Nordi Mukiele deflected into his own net in the 1-1 draw against Sunderland as Liverpool came from behind to claim a point for the first time this season. There have been no assists but he can't control the finishing of others.
Wirtz ranks among the top 10 players in the Premier League for chances created from open play this season. In the Champions League, the statistics are even more impressive. Only Kylian Mbappe has created more than him in that competition.
Although Wirtz has also been criticised for failing to adjust to the physicality of the Premier League, he has certainly brought intensity too. He ranks among the top 10 players for possessions won in the final third of the pitch.
Of players to have run over 75 kilometres in total this season - of which there are 166 - Wirtz ranks among the top six for distance covered and high-intensity sprints per 90 minutes. The energy has not been lacking, his off-the-ball movement impressive.
Those runs are not always being spotted by his team-mates, still adjusting to having a different type of player in those zones. Wirtz thrives on those little interactions, the one-two, the give-and-go, but the ball is not always coming back his way.
He is having to adapt to the lack of space, particularly in that No 10 position. According to Genius IQ data, Wirtz's average availability time to receive a pass is just 0.81 seconds, the fifth lowest in the Premier League among those available over 1000 times.
But Wirtz is still creating, his quality still obvious to those watching rather than judging him on the headline numbers.
Too good to fail? Fifteen appearances into his Premier League career, that seems a reasonable conclusion to draw.
