Virgil van Dijk explains how he’s looking at Florian Wirtz’s slow start to life at Liverpool

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Virgil van Dijk is unconcerned by the slow start Florian Wirtz has made following his big-money move to Liverpool.

Wirtz cost the Reds a British record transfer fee at the time he moved from Bayer Leverkusen, with huge expectations immediately placed on his shoulders.

However, the 22-year-old has failed to fully find his feet at Liverpool, and is yet to score or assist in the Premier League or Champions League.

Wirtz has been questioned constantly by pundits and rival supporters who are perhaps desperate to see the German fail.

But while Liverpool undoubtedly need to see more from Wirtz in the coming weeks, Van Dijk has spoken out to put the beginning of his career at Anfield into some perspective.

Virgil van Dijk unconcerned over Florian Wirtz form

Van Dijk knows exactly what it is like to join Liverpool for a huge transfer fee.

The centre-back was the most expensive signing in Liverpool history when he joined from Southampton in 2018.

But while Van Dijk was able to start justifying his fee instantly, Wirtz is taking longer to get going. Asked about why that may be, the Reds captain told Sky Sports that it is ‘normal’ for a period of adaptation to take place.

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“First and foremost when new players come in, as I did, for a lot of money, it’s important that you feel welcomed, calm, that your home situation is sorted, your family is happy and if that is good then you’ll be able to excel,” Van Dijk said.

“On top of that you don’t have to forget that in any profession when you come to a new place you need a bit of time to adjust, to get to know your colleagues, what they like to do and the demands of the Premier League, the demands of being at Liverpool.”

“It’s absolutely normal,” Van Dijk adds. “But obviously we live in a world where it’s hard to get time from the outside world.

“But as long as we at Liverpool are looking at it how I’m looking at it and we want to improve and want to get better, we’ll be fine.”

Van Dijk backs new signings to come good

It is not only Wirtz who has struggled for form since arriving at Liverpool this summer. Alexander Isak has had plenty of spotlight, while Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong have not exactly sparkled either.

But when asked what he’s seeing from the new players in training and on matchdays, Van Dijk says the quality of each of them is absolutely clear already.

“I see with all the additions that we made. The quality that he [Wirtz] has, that Alexander has, that Hugo has, that Milos has, there’s no doubt about that,” says the Dutchman.

“It’s just about being together, improving and being successful. Every day that goes by in training or the games that we have is another opportunity to get close to each other in terms of what we want, that’s how it is.”

Liverpool could do with things clicking sooner rather than later, but the positive side is that with players this good, they surely cannot be so bad for much longer.