Unlocking Wirtz is Iraola's main Liverpool priority
The German endured a mixed first season at Anfield and a similar World Cup, but has a chance at a fresh start under a new head coach.
There is rightly a focus on the fact that Liverpool need to do smart business this summer in order to give Andoni Iraola a shot at a strong start.
However, it is also worth noting that one of the key reasons his predecessor Arne Slot was dismissed was for not getting enough out of what he already had.
And there is no better example of that than Florian Wirtz, who struggled to consistently show his best following a £116m move from Bayer Leverkusen 12 months ago.
Described by insiders as a a shy, introverted character, it is clear that the German’s integration was made more complicated by arriving to a dressing room shocked by the tragic loss of Diogo Jota.
On the pitch, the fact he was rarely part of a functioning team during his debut campaign did not help, either.
But Liverpool still ended the season believing they should have seen more, and the will need to going forward if Wirtz is to prove a wise investment.
There is no question that the 23-year-old took some steps forward last term, not least in adding extra muscle to cope with the Premier League’s physicality.
The upside of that started to show around January, during a promising run of form that it was hoped marked his long overdue arrival.
Yet this did not sustain into the final months of the campaign and, in unpicking whether that was more the player’s fault or that of the head coach, Liverpool’s decision makers ultimately settled on the latter.
To be fair to Wirtz (and, one supposes, Slot), the underlying numbers suggest that a correction might well be coming.
