Liverpool manager Arne Slot has confirmed that Florian Wirtz is back in training and could feature in the FA Cup fifth-round tie at Wolves on Friday. The 22-year-old German midfielder has been sidelined since sustaining an injury during the warm-up ahead of Liverpool's 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest two weeks ago.
Wirtz missed the Reds' last two matches, including a disappointing 2-1 Premier League defeat to Wolves on Tuesday. His absence was keenly felt as Liverpool struggled for creativity. Slot revealed on Thursday that Wirtz trained partially with the team on Wednesday and is making progress in his recovery.
“He trained half-and-half with the team yesterday and made the next step in his rehab,” Slot said. “Let's see where he is today. He could be available for a few minutes tomorrow in the best-case scenario. Everyone else is fine.”
Slot reported a clean bill of health from the Wolves game, but Liverpool remain without Alexander Isak, Conor Bradley, Wataru Endo, Giovanni Leoni and Stefan Bajcetic. The Dutch manager acknowledged the impact of injuries but expressed satisfaction with the club's summer recruitment, noting that the squad model means long-term absences hurt more.
“I'm happy with what we did last summer, we signed so many great players but you can't predict so many would be injured,” Slot explained. “It's the model we are having that we aren't having 25 players over here. It hurts even more if you have three or four long-term injuries.”
Slot has demanded a response from his players after the midweek loss and could make changes for the FA Cup tie. “We have a few [options] but we don't have 11,” he added. “I always have options to bring in and players can bring in and let them start. Not for the first time this season, three days after a game where we have dropped points, I've seen us do quite a lot this season, we have to be better than we were last time.”
