He may not be at Liverpool anymore, but Jurgen Klopp keeps a close eye on his former players, and on new Anfield stars like Florian Wirtz.
The former Liverpool boss will already have been very familiar with Wirtz before his move to Merseyside, being one of Germany’s most exciting young talents. Wirtz’s debut season at Liverpool has yielded mixed results, but everybody knows the quality he possesses.
Klopp will be hoping the 22-year-old can have a major impact for Germany during the World Cup, and he explained why he has every confidence in that happening.
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Jurgen Klopp backs Florian Wirtz for major World Cup impact
The World Cup is where superstars are born, and Wirtz is right on the cusp. While his club form has fluctuated this season, he seems to always show up on the international stage.
Klopp expects nothing less when the tournament gets underway in June.
He told BBC Sport: “I hope Flo Wirtz will have a fantastic, fantastic World Cup. I think he has everything you need to be a standout player.
“I don’t want to put any pressure on the boy. I really think he showed already how good he can be in a difficult season.”
It hasn’t been an easy adaptation for Wirtz. It never is when moving from the Bundesliga to the Premier League.
His efforts to settle have also been hampered by Liverpool’s inconsistencies, but Klopp is looking past all that. He thinks Wirtz will make a difference.
Klopp wishes the best for his former Liverpool players
The German really is one-of-a-kind — as is his relationship with the club. He still looks at the players as his players, and he makes sure to monitor their successes still, two years after his Liverpool exit.
On the other Reds who will be competing at the World Cup, he had this to say: “I hope my players will have a great World Cup.
“I hope that Andy Robertson and Alisson Becker can enjoy that when they meet each other. Can you imagine that you play together for such a long time and Scotland qualifies first time, I don’t know, since when, for the World Cup, and you meet each other, your friends, your mutual friends, and you meet each other in a game like that? I mean, that must be one of the happiest moments in your life.
“I wish Virgil [van Dijk] will have a great tournament. I really wish for Mo [Salah] that he will have a great tournament. I honestly wish that Sadio [Mane] will have a great tournament. Macca [Alexis Mac Allister], if he won, if they win it again. It was so nice to see him with a medal around his neck and when he came back to Brighton.
“So many [of my] former players are part of the World Cup, which is really, really nice. And to see how time flies.”
Liverpool have a few World Cup contenders in the squad, and even though he is no longer tied to Anfield in a physical sense, he will be supporting them the same as all of us. Once a Red, always a Red.
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