Robert Huth's Concerns About Florian Wirtz at Liverpool
Robert Huth does not see a happy ending coming for Florian Wirtz at Liverpool. In fact, the former Premier League defender is already talking about a possible exit.
"I really find it hard to see how this can still turn around," Huth said on All Out Football's podcast In The Mixer, as he dissected Wirtz's situation at Anfield. When someone with 322 Premier League appearances and a title with Leicester City in 2016 talks about English football, people tend to listen.
Huth’s brutal verdict
Huth recognises Wirtz’s talent. He calls the 23-year-old "obviously a good player." But he sees a fundamental problem.
"He has real problems with his physicality," said the 42-year-old, who won 19 caps for Germany and played at the 2006 World Cup on home soil. In Huth’s eyes, the Premier League might simply be too demanding for Wirtz’s current profile.
Liverpool paid a huge price to find out. In 2025 they wired a base fee of 125 million euros to Bayer Leverkusen to bring the playmaker to England. A statement signing, a future star, the creative hub for the next era at Anfield – that was the plan.
The reality of his first season has been far more uneven. There were flashes, moments where his touch and vision lit up games, but they came without the consistency expected from a nine-figure signing. The feeling around the club: he has not yet justified the investment.
Now a new chapter begins under coach Andoni Iraola. Liverpool hope year two will be different, that Wirtz will finally impose himself and deliver the definitive breakthrough.
Huth is not convinced.
Wirtz fights back
Wirtz, for his part, rejects the idea that he is being overwhelmed by the league’s intensity.
"I would say that I have developed in almost every area. Definitely when it comes to my physical level," he told RTL and Sky in a recent interview, pushing back against Huth’s assessment and similar criticism.
He painted a picture of daily strain and adaptation at Melwood.
"Even in training, I have to push myself almost to my limits every day, simply because there are players here who are also fully committed in training every day and have that kind of quality. You also have to be at a good level yourself," the Germany international explained.
From Wirtz’s perspective, the process is underway. The body is catching up to the league. The work is being done. He believes the improvement is real.
A harsh reading of opening day
Huth looked at Liverpool’s opening Premier League match at Newcastle United – a 2-2 draw – and saw more warning signs than progress.
"His body language is also a bit poor," he said of Wirtz’s display at St James’ Park. That detail mattered to Huth. The shoulders, the reactions, the presence between the lines – all of it fed into his wider doubts.
The former centre-back does not expect a quick turnaround. On the contrary, he floated a scenario that would have been unthinkable when Liverpool unveiled their new No. 10.
"By Christmas they will probably look to move him on if he does not improve, because he has become an expensive problem for Liverpool," Huth claimed.
An "expensive problem" is not how anyone at Anfield imagined describing Florian Wirtz. Under Iraola, with a full pre-season behind him and a second year to adjust, the German playmaker now has a simple, brutal equation in front of him: prove Huth wrong, or watch that Christmas talk grow louder.
