What makes Florian Wirtz special, and how does Mohamed Salah fit into that?
Florian Wirtz, the £116 million boy
This is an article I decided to postpone for a few days. Diogo Jota’s and his brother André’s passing left many of us struggling to cope with such unexpected and devastating news. Even now, it’s still difficult to publish a piece about a club struck with such a horrific event, grasping to understand how much pain they must come to terms with. Let’s embrace this as an insight into the talent of a young footballer named Florian Wirtz, who will undoubtedly bring joy to many around the world.
The most expensive player in British history.
Someone expected to further improve the squad, which had won the most competitive football league in the world two months ago.
And a player trusted by Michael Edwards, Liverpool’s chief executive of football and one of the top football strategists around.
Before we dive into the FPL side of things, let’s answer the question on everyone’s mind: What makes Florian Wirtz special?
The art of creating a chance
If you ever read Ian Graham’s bible of data analytics in football, How to Win the Premier League, you know that Edwards and his team place great importance on their in-house advanced data metric called goal probability added. You might know it under various names, such as the expected threat (xT) popularised by Arsenal’s analyst Karun Singh or Statsbomb’s on-ball value (OBV).
These models can assess how each player’s touch influences the team’s likelihood of scoring a goal. As you may have guessed, Wirtz excels in these metrics. When you evaluate his passing, carrying, and dribbling, he outperformed 99% of other Bundesliga wingers and attacking midfielders.
Achieving this kind of result usually means that a player has had a significant impact not only around the box but also in the build-up and deeper areas, and there’s no doubt that Wirtz is exactly that kind of player. Later, we will analyse the types of passes he plays and how he creates his most dangerous chances.
But to paint a more footballing picture of him, think of someone who is a master decision-maker and executor. His football intelligence allows him to see the best solutions at any given moment.
When on the ball, it’s not only about when to make a creative pass and choosing the one with the highest chance of success in a split second.
It’s also about when to make a seemingly simple pass, which opens a better route to a dangerous chance.
Off the ball, he can identify the best space to run into and how to manipulate the opponent’s players. He understands their defensive patterns and can predict how they will react to his movement.
He is capable of playing and receiving progressive passes in high volume and quality. OPTA states that in the 2023/2024 season, he both made and received the most progressive passes in the German Bundesliga.
It’s not just about finding the best solution but also about making moves that no one expects and doing so regularly.
To sum this up, Wirtz is a final pass monster from open play (that’s important).
That’s what he does the best.
That’s what Liverpool will try to utilise to the maximum.
In the last Bundesliga season, Wirtz recorded 0.28 expected assists and 0.42 actual assists per 90 minutes as a left-sided number 10.
In the season prior to that, he averaged 0.29 xA and 0.39 assists per 90 minutes.
In the 2022/2023 season? Well, 0.36 xA and 0.46 assists per 90 minutes after coming back from a serious injury.
Season after season, he posts huge creative numbers.
I have already mentioned the open-play factor.