“We live in a world where many, many people out there don’t watch the games at all, but then go on the app and see: ‘No goal, no assist, so he must have played badly.’”
Those are Kai Havertz’s words on the way Florian Wirtz is currently being judged in England. Speaking to Sport1 ahead of Germany’s international week, the Arsenal forward sided firmly with his national-team colleague after weeks of calls in the English press to drop the €125m signing.
“For me, he’s one of the best players I’ve ever played with,” Havertz told the German outlet.
Havertz spent two seasons alongside Wirtz at Bayer Leverkusen before moving to the Premier League, and said he had watched “very, very many good games” from him over the past year and a half. The 23-year-old has two goals and five assists in all competitions this season for Liverpool.
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Pundits piling on since City defeat
The volume on Wirtz has rarely been higher. After Liverpool’s 3-0 home defeat to Manchester City in October, Jamie Carragher told Sky Sports that the German “shouldn’t be in the Liverpool team right now”, adding that he “never looks like scoring a goal” and poses “absolutely no goal threat whatsoever”.
Dietmar Hamann went further still, saying he “sees no future” for Wirtz at Anfield and claiming the playmaker had “lost all confidence and all belief in his abilities”. Wirtz joined Liverpool from Leverkusen in summer 2025 for a reported £116m, one of the most expensive transfers in Premier League history.
Havertz said that kind of social-media-driven verdict missed what Wirtz was actually doing on the pitch, where he was “involved in the game, creates chances for his team-mates and poses a threat”.
Klopp made the same case in September
Havertz is not the only credible voice pushing back. Jürgen Klopp, now Germany head coach after leaving Anfield, used a press conference in September to question how Wirtz’s performances were being framed.
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“We won 1-0 or 2-0, and then all the experts in the world sit there and discuss why it still didn’t work out for him,” Klopp told reporters.
“You have to be happy with a game in which ‘Flo’ Wirtz gave everything but didn’t have a goal or assist.”
Klopp also said Germany needed to “move away from the idea that we want to see special moments from him” every week.
Havertz, for his part, told Sport1 he was convinced Wirtz would find his feet at Anfield and grow into a major player for Liverpool.
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