Florian Wirtz’s Father Hits Back at Gary Neville’s ‘Little Boy’ Jibe

Florian Wirtz’s father Hans dismissed the rampant criticism washing his son’s way, insisting instead that “everything is going as expected.”

When Liverpool agreed what was at the time a club-record £116 million ($152.6 million) fee to bring Wirtz to Merseyside from Bayer Leverkusen over the summer, there would have been few fans expecting the attacking midfielder to still be waiting for his first Premier League goal or assist by mid-November.

The diminutive playmaker teed up Hugo Ekitiké in the Community Shield on an otherwise understated debut and created two goals against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League. However, when it comes to the blood and thunder of England’s top flight, Wirtz’s physicality as much as his quality on the ball have come under fire.

Florian Wirtz. Wirtz Profile. Liverpool’s ‘Cheeky’ Record-Breaker. dark

Former Manchester United fullback Gary Neville tore into the Germany international after Liverpool suffered a limp 3–0 defeat to Manchester City last weekend. “Wirtz is a problem,” the eight-time Premier League champion scoffed. “I thought Wirtz looked like a little boy. That can’t be the case.”

Wirtz Sr. had little time for Neville’s comments. “I only take the criticism from the former internationals in passing,” he told Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. “Florian is a young man who wants to prove himself in a new environment. Less than a third of the season has been played.Florian Wirtz is still adapting to the Premier League. / Visionhaus/Getty Images

“So far, everything is going as expected; it’s a completely normal settling-in process, entirely independent of any transfer fee,” Hans Wirtz, who serves as one of his son’s agents in a unique double act with his wife Karin Groß, added.

“And: If you look at the statistics more closely, you can see that Florian’s stats regarding his involvement in the game are already quite good; only assists and goals are still pending.”

This argument was also raised by Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann, who sniped: “Maybe Liverpool could also help him out by scoring some of the chances he creates.” However, some figures who got to know Wirtz at Bayer Leverkusen offered an explanation which extends beyond blindly pointing at his stack of key passes.Florian Wirtz is the second most expensive player in British football history. / Matt McNulty/Getty Images

Bayer Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes plucked Wirtz out of Köln’s academy and watched him bloom into one of the world’s best attacking midfielders. For Rolfes, Wirtz’s issues stem from a lack of involvement. “For all his individual class, Flo is above all one thing: a total team player,” the Leverkusen chief told Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger.

“Flo thrives on combination play, but at the moment Liverpool haven’t quite gelled as a team. That makes things more difficult for Flo, too.”

Rolfes has a point. Wirtz averaged more than 80 touches per game at Leverkusen, operating as the attacking fulcrum for Xabi Alonso’s side. At Liverpool, where he has been increasingly shunted out wide, the 22-year-old boasts just 57.7 touches per game, representing a 28% decline.

The drop-off is even more severe in the attacking third of the pitch, where Wirtz has gone from 45.1 touches per 90 at Leverkusen to 27.3 in the Premier League this season.

While this hardly absolves Wirtz of any blame, his struggles to find space between the lines of the Premier League’s compact rearguards has undoubtedly played a part in this decline, it would help to get him on the ball more.

Florian Wirtz Simply Isn’t Getting On the Ball

Stats via FBref. Correct as of Nov. 16, 2025.