Everton midfielder Merlin Rohl has said he is past caring which position he plays and has given his view on the scrutiny surrounding Liverpool's Florian Wirtz.
Rohl's loan from Freiburg was made permanent in the summer after he impressed towards the end of last season. However, he spent much of pre-season and the start of the campaign at right-back as David Moyes looked to cover a longstanding problem area for the club.
That issue has since been addressed with the signing of Ainsley Maitland-Niles in the final hours of the transfer window, and the former German youth international says the specific position is now secondary.
Learning from Baines and Coleman
“I’m completely past worrying about which position I play now,” he told German publication Kicker. “You can offer the team different things depending on the situation, and in that sense, the specific position becomes completely secondary.
“It was a process for me; it wasn’t always that way. The people in charge at Freiburg, in particular, might remember it differently, as there were discussions there about my preference for playing as a number eight.
“It developed through a process and very close dialogue with Leighton Baines. He was one of the best in the world in that position (full back).
“Then there’s Seamus Coleman, another legend here, who also played as a full-back. These are two people who have become very important to me and from whom I’m learning an incredible amount.”
Maitland-Niles arrival
On Maitland-Niles’ arrival at the club, Rohl added: “We can learn from each other. We have slightly different profiles when it comes to our play with the ball.
“That gives the coach another option in this position. I simply want to keep improving so that I’m good enough to play every game.”
Wirtz under scrutiny
Rohl also believes Wirtz is paying the price for the huge transfer fee that saw him move from Bayer Leverkusen to Liverpool last summer. The German has found himself under scrutiny again, but Rohl believes the £116m price tag attached to the Germany international is not helping him.
“People don’t quite know how to rate him yet,” he said. “Then there’s that huge transfer fee, which doesn’t make things easy for anyone. But Flo is an incredibly good player.
“You’re either praised to the skies or, at times, verbally torn to shreds. In a way, I think it’s precisely these extremes that fascinate people here about the sport.”
