Jamie Carragher has told Andoni Iraola that Florian Wirtz does not have a place in his Liverpool team and believes the Reds need another midfielder with the physical fitness to accompany Ryan Gravenberch.
The former Liverpool centre-back, who made 737 appearances for the club, was speaking to Sky Sports after Iraola's first competitive game in charge ended in a chaotic 2-2 draw at Newcastle United on Sunday. Dominik Szoboszlai's penalty in the dying seconds secured a point after Liverpool found themselves behind twice at St James' Park.
Carragher's verdict on Wirtz and midfield
Carragher said: “Liverpool need someone alongside Gravenberch. It doesn't necessarily need to be a player who can't get on the ball and he's just tackling and stopping players. If you play for one of the top teams in the world, you need to be able to get hold of the ball.
“But I want someone who can run. Szboszlai has to go to the No 10. I've always seen this coming. When people are saying [Wirtz] has got to go to No 10, that means Szoboszlai's got to be in the team and he's not a central midfield player.
“I thought this would come up in six weeks, I think it's coming up right now. I don't see where he fits in at all, really. What's Iraola going to do with Wirtz? You can't keep going with it; it's not working,
Concern over Liverpool's transfer business
“It didn't work last season. Liverpool last season conceded 78 goals, 53 in the Premier League, the most they've ever conceded in the Premier League. And all of a sudden it's all about buying wingers?
“I'm not sure where he fits. I almost thought you could put him in a pocket from the left, where he plays for Germany, but Iraola loves wingers, he wants players who've got energy up and down the flank.
“I don't think we're seeing a massive underperformance. I think what we've seen for a year is probably what he is, which is a neat and tidy footballer. Not a player who should be worth £110m, someone who probably should be £50m-60m, something like that. Neat and tidy, lovely touch. I'm not sure what people are expecting.”
Liverpool spent heavily last summer, splurging £455million on high-profile signings, including Wirtz, Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitike, Giovanni Leoni, Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong. Carragher has shared his concern over what impact that transfer window will have on his former club going forward.
Fear of long-term setback
He added: “My fear of watching Liverpool yesterday [Sunday], and it's the first game of the season, is this window of 12 months ago could set Liverpool back a year or two to fix it.
“Now don't forget last season it was not about these players. You [pointing to fellow pundit Gary Neville] said on the [Gary Neville] podcast yesterday that these players have got off lightly and you're right because it was all about Arne Slot and his style of play and he's not like Jurgen Klopp and he's holding these players back.
“Yes it's one game with Iraola, but we're talking 12 months of underperformance from all of these players except him [Ekitike]. If this doesn't change in the next two or three months under Iraola and these players improving, I think we're going to be looking at that as arguably the worst transfer window we've probably seen in Premier League history when you consider the fees for these players and what they were going to do for Liverpool.
“The idea of these players wasn't just coming in to be good players, it was to create a little dynasty for Liverpool. Let's not forget, Liverpool won the league two years ago, these were supposed to do what [Manchester] City have done in the past few years, or [Manchester] United, where they win two or three leagues in five years.”
