16 Jun 2026 12:13:50
LFC exploring Schlotterbeck.
Josh Holme looking likely to be another academy scoop.
Contacted Bouaddi, no deal to after WC similar to Yan.
Bradley Barcola open to move, Arsenal also in the race.
Best
BigEars.
16 Jun 2026 14:07:37
Sounds good to me, big ears.
Noddy.
16 Jun 2026 14:20:29
Cheers, BigEars.
16 Jun 2026 15:36:30
6GS, You win the internet today. ??
16 Jun 2026 15:45:44
Couldn't resist!
16 Jun 2026 16:49:35
Yesterday I was convinced Barcola would sign for us. Since then, though, I've had a sleep and changed my mind. I want to see a Diomande, Isak and Wirtz front 3. Wirtz and Diomande being able to seamlessly alternate sides makes it even more salivating.
16 Jun 2026 17:26:20
Absolutely no way should Wirtz be out on the wing. Wirtz should be sitting behind the front 3 pulling the strings. Your wingers need to be pacey to get round their man.
Look at all the recent winners of the big trophies.
All had good pacey, tricky wingers. Look at PSG, Man City, Us in 2017 onwards.
Rio/Barcola. Isak. Yan Da man.
Wirtz.
Camara. Szobo.
Kerkez. VVD. Jaquet. Palestra.
Alisson.
16 Jun 2026 17:50:29
Indeed, Neff73. I don't know where this "Wirtz on the left" crap came from esp. when you consider last season where Slot played him there and was completely crap.
16 Jun 2026 17:59:49
I'm not with you on that, MK. I agree with Neff73. Most importantly, I want Wirtz in a floating 10 position, finding space and making the killer pass. The wingers need to be able to beat a man and get to the touch line and put a cross in, to get the best out of Isak.
Barcola and Diomande would be the priority signings for me, even if we had to sell Gakpo to fund it. If we could only get one, because of the cost, then I'm not against bringing back Darwin to make up the numbers.
16 Jun 2026 18:14:27
If Wirtz is not in the centre he should not be in the side. I know he's meant to have done well coming in off the wing in the Bundesliga, but he's been anonymous when he's played there for Liverpool. Watching him out there is, for me, like looking at Harvey Elliott out on the right. Both will give it a go, have good attitudes, but we are trying to win things here.
He gets outmuscled and outpaced by too many of these Premier League RBs. If we sign a couple of wingers and a top midfielder, I think Wirtz is gonna find it hard enough trying to get in the first 11, never mind trying to impress in a position I struggle to remember him having a good game in at the club.
16 Jun 2026 18:18:56
I mean he literally plays on the left for Germany and played there mostly for Leverkusen, Oli, so whilst you're free to disagree it's a bit harsh to call it "crap" haha. Cheers though, mate, going to go cry myself to sleep now.
I can see why people want Wirtz in the midfield 3 but I just don't fancy him there to be honest.
It reminds me of when Trent looked good drifting into the midfield from RB, but struggled when played as an actual midfielder. I think Wirtz looks more dangerous drifting into central areas than if he's actually played in there as a starting position.
It's all subjective though, unless you're the all knowing oracle like Oli!
16 Jun 2026 18:20:25
It's a bit of a conundrum with Wirtz for me, he's undoubtedly elite level, and I mean a proper elite footballer, somebody you build your team around. However, it's clear even when playing in a 10 he likes to pop up in space from the left a lot of the time, and he takes up the spaces you'd naturally find your left winger in.
Obviously, this is only his starting position, as he rarely goes down the outside but comes inside to find the pockets in there. I feel with him, another left winger and Kerkez, those spaces are going to become non-existent and quite a bit congested, making him look pretty ineffective as well as the other 2 players.
Germany usually deploys him from the left, and I think to myself, would he be naturally more comfortable in the left spot of a front 3, coming in as a more inverted attacking midfielder rather than an out and out winger, allowing for Kerkez to make his runs into the space Wirtz leaves to go inside and create.
Whatever we do going forward though, Florian has to be at the centre of it all. I'm not bothered about how it's started for him at us or what others think of him, I believe this lad is and is going to be a very special footballer for us!
16 Jun 2026 18:22:05
To be fair, Wirtz played on left against Madrid and probably his best game. But I agree he should be behind, but for me he should be behind a front 2.
16 Jun 2026 18:30:52
Florian Musiala, I don't think you can judge Wirtz on the left for us fairly because the system was not right. When he played there for Leverkusen, he had Grimaldo bursting past him. When he played there for Germany, he had Brown bursting past him. When he played there for us, he had Kerkez being told to sit back tucked in as a 3rd CB most of the time. Wirtz needs that selfless run to take a player away from him and give him the space to hurt teams with his vision.
If you let Kerkez loose to bomb past Wirtz next season, then that allows Wirtz to drift inside without us lacking width down the left.
It also means Wirtz will be primarily operating from central areas, but he'd be overloading the midfield, making it much harder for the opposition to pick him up. This is how Leverkusen and Germany get Wirtz looking world class. If you play him in a midfield 3 with 3 forwards ahead of him, he's no longer coming in unmarked as an overload, he's already marked by the DM (usually the most aggressive player and best tackler in the team) when he receives the ball, and we're 3 vs 3 in the middle of the park.
Just my opinion, people are entitled to disagree.
16 Jun 2026 18:40:12
The reason he plays on the left for Germany is the same reason he didn't want to join Bayern Munich... Musiala!
I think (hope) Iraola will build the team to get the best out of Wirtz and Isak.
16 Jun 2026 18:42:55
The main reason we don't like Gakpo is because he can't beat his man. He keeps cutting in and having a s***.
Why would we swap him out for Wirtz to do the same thing?
At least from the middle, he can wander where he wants and help create the space by pulling the DM away with him.
Neff.
16 Jun 2026 18:43:44
Spot on for me, to be honest, MK, I share the same view on how to get the best out of him.
16 Jun 2026 18:53:02
I can see what you're saying MK, and I always say, when it comes to Wirtz I somewhat bow to people's superior knowledge on here as I don't watch much Bundesliga. I only go by what I see in Red, and truthfully I'm seriously underwhelmed by him so far. I sometimes think his performances get bigged up too. I've tried to watch Germany this season when I could just to see Wirtz, and where I'd think he'd had a decent game, people would be on here saying he'd absolutely ran the show. Last Sunday was similar.
Was good for the first 30mins then disappeared for me but got his assist so people were over the moon with him. What way does Iraola even play? I'm struggling to remember who was their main LW last season. Does Iraola play with two out and out wingers or does he play with one and a Wirtz/Elliott type? Look, we all want and need the same thing, for Wirtz to succeed. But so far honestly I'd be more worried about him starting games ahead of Dom as the most advanced MF if we sign two direct speedy wingers and a top MF.
16 Jun 2026 18:54:24
I'm so to you, MK, on this one, as much as I'd love Wirtz in the 10 floating behind the 3 forwards, I think at present Wirtz gets eaten up as part of a midfield 3. Perhaps if we get more mobile midfielders as an anchoring 2 in midfield, but I'm not convinced Wirtz as part of a 3 in midfield stacks up in this league.
Perhaps as he develops and adapts to the league he could build physically and maybe develop into a Bernardo Silva type, but for upcoming season I'd prioritise him on LW with a view to playing as described by MK and solidify our Midfield.
16 Jun 2026 19:00:44
The problem with Gakpo, Neff is he's too predictable. When on form he's brilliant at cutting in, getting his shot off, and he either scores or tests the keeper.
I think the problems we saw with Gakpo last season reiterate what I've said above. It's too congested, and with Wirtz as a 10, Gakpo as a winger who is more of an inside forward and Kerkez who is an overlapping full back just all get in the way of each other, and it's easy for teams to mark them out of the game completely.
That's the whole left side becoming ineffective essentially. For me, (which is something Slot didn't do enough of) you set your team tactics up to compliment the best attributes of the players you have at your disposal.
16 Jun 2026 19:09:29
I agree with MK. He plays there for Germany and always looks good. People saying he was rubbish last season playing there. Well, everyone was rubbish last season playing anywhere! I followed him at Leverkusen, and whilst not strictly on the left wing, he was the left sided no 10 and so came in from that side and was devastating.
Also means you can have an extra man in the middle in a 433.
16 Jun 2026 19:19:44
He plays a left sided 10, which is very different to what most people think when they hear "plays on the left". People think Mane, Diaz, but it's obviously not like that. Given we are going for Wingers, I think Wirtz will end up through the centre as a 10, but a lot can change with a new approach.
16 Jun 2026 19:34:39
Wirtz on the left is a massive no.
16 Jun 2026 20:05:30
Wasn't a major part of him choosing us over City and Bayern that he got to play in the 10?
16 Jun 2026 20:13:36
The slow build last season stifled all attacking players including Wirtz. He can definitely play on the left, but like mk says, if he has an overlapping fullback. Wirtz can definitely beat a man, but we need to find him sooner when he's not surrounded by every other player on the pitch.
16 Jun 2026 20:24:48
OilRed, you ask where this "play off the left" stuff comes from. Maybe every single game of his career? He's always started left and drifted inside to find the space and a full back bombing on. The only time he has ever played 10 is for us, and it really hasn't worked so far.
{Ed001's Note - that's not true. He has not 'always' started left. Alonso rarely even played a full-back at Leverkusen to bomb on.}
16 Jun 2026 23:04:19
To be fair, there was no real point in playing a 10 with Slot's game plans. To be honest, I'm not hung up on where Wirtz plays. If we play a proper style of attacking football, he will be an asset on the left or in the middle.
He reminds me a bit of Pablo Aimar and it would be great to see him get the chance to show what he can properly do in a Reds shirt.
17 Jun 2026 08:27:38
Neff, I remember Gakpo cutting in and having a shot but never cutting in and having a ****.