As bad as Wirtz: Liverpool look like they’ve signed another Nunez

Alexander Isak: injured. Cody Gakpo: injured. Dominik Szoboszlai: injured. But let’s not get it twisted: that was an embarrassing evening for Liverpool at Anfield.

Liverpool were trashed by Manchester City, and all the pointed fingers at shoddy refereeing and an unlawfully assembled City superpower cannot detract from a very simple and singular point.

The Merseysiders aren’t good enough. They pale in comparison to this Man City side, but they are no match for Arsenal either, a club built on the kind of legitimate, multi-year growth that drew so many plaudits toward Jurgen Klopp.

Let’s not blow it all out of proportion. The Reds have suffered their first defeat under Andoni Iraola after eight games in all competitions, but they still lack the kind of edge that struck fear into opponents under Klopp.

Even across that early, erratic phase (2016-2018), Liverpool had a feral and animalistic hunger that turned powerful outfits into helpless prey.

Where is that now? Where is Anfield’s fear factor? Where is the will to win? If you could bottle Liverpool’s decline up and label it in two words, it would be spelt like this: Florian Wirtz.

Why Florian Wirtz is becoming a massive problem for Liverpool

Each time Liverpool play, Wirtz loses more of his supporters – and that personal fanbase on Merseyside is already in short supply.

The 23-year-old almost beggars belief. At times, it looks like he simply doesn’t want it, like he simply isn’t prepared to roll up hisn veritable sleeves and actually take games by the scruff of the neck.

Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff

Wirtz’s currency is not goals. Neither is it assists which make the German tick. Watch him play and you might appreciate the smooth, tidy way in which he conducts himself, abundantly technical but balletic to the point of boring, unable to channel the aggression which could see him turn the tide.

Here’s the problem: Liverpool spent nine digits on the Germany playmaker, but not only have they failed to get bang for their buck, Wirtz is proving a net negative on a one-time superpower, now lacking the midfield robustness created by Klopp and harnessed by Slot en route to the title in 2024/25.

Something needs to change – fast. But the reality is that Wirtz is not the extent of Liverpool’s problems when assessing big-money flops; the buck certainly doesn’t stop there.

Big-money Liverpool star could be Nunez 2.0

Once upon a time, FSG and Liverpool were revered and reviled for their masterful transfer dealing. No more. Those days are long gone.

It hasn’t only been the past 14 months or so. Since the first few years of Klopp’s reign, the hits have been more sporadic, like a one-time darts phenomenon clearly past their best. Look at Darwin Nunez, who joined the club for £84m (at Klopp’s behest) in 2022, only to fall heavily by the wayside with Anfield.

Now, fans might be concerned that Liverpool have repeated that same blunder with Bradley Barcola, who has offered very little across his first handful of games with the Reds.

Barcola, 23, shaped much of the transfer narrative at Liverpool this summer. He joined for £123m at the end of the summer, but has not looked like a superstar just yet. Against City, Victor Munoz and Lewis Koumas offered more.

The jury is still out. It has to be. It would be unfair to write the France international off at this early stage of the season, but for all his talent, he is wasteful in front of goal and has yet to iron out of the flaws in his skillset which were perhaps covered during his prolific stint with Paris Saint-Germain.

He has what it takes, even after a poor start to his Liverpool career. Barcola scored 34 goals across PSG’s back-to-back Champions League-winning seasons, bettered only by Ousmane Dembele for that metric.

But he missed 25 big chances across Ligue 1 and the Champions League last term, only converting 15 times across the two competitions. It’s not good enough, and an illustration of how much weight he needs to haul before repaying the faith and the fee at Liverpool.

Against Enzo Maresca’s City, he had his moments, but the Frenchman paled in comparison to his counterparts in Sky Blue, completing four dribbles, creating two chances and winning eight duels, but failing to win supporters over when up against the ‘eye test’.

Profligacy and inefficiency in big moments does seem quite Nunez-esque, but Barcola does have plenty of time to work his way into the right gear and prove all the naysayers wrong. In fairness, he has every chance of doing so, whereas Wirtz seems to be running out of time.

How frustrating for the Anfield side. Though perhaps there’s something to be said about breaking the bank. It wasn’t Liverpool’s way, and the likes of Barcola and Wirtz have so much to prove before they can even scratch the surface.

For both of these players to fail to bring it together would be a catastrophe. Iraola needs to get a tune out of them, and if Barcola can pack a bit more of a well-timed punch in the danger area, hopefully he will avoid falling down the same hole as Nunez.