Michael Olise is showing Liverpool supporters why the Reds reportedly see him as being the absolute gold-standard attacking target this summer.
Olise was heavily linked with Liverpool ahead of the World Cup, and though his arrival from Bayern Munich currently feels impossible, nobody can stop fans from dreaming.
Though supporters would generally think of the Frenchman as a left-footed right winger, almost like a direct Mohamed Salah replacement, Olise has been showing another side to his game at the World Cup.
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Throughout the tournament so far, and during Tuesday’s impressive win over Sweden in particular, the 24-year-old has been operating much more centrally, pulling the attacking strings for Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele.
His assists for Mbappe and Liverpool target Bradley Barcola, showcased a brilliantly technical, creative player who can pick up pockets of space and thread lovely through balls to those ahead of him. Though that made it clear why Liverpool would want to sign him, it also suggested that Florian Wirtz could do that same exact job for the Reds.
Wirtz can be Liverpool’s Olise alternative
On the face of it, there is little to link Olise and Wirtz as being similar players. One is right-footed, the other left, one stands six feet tall, the other at only five foot seven inches.
Nevertheless, there was something very Wirtz-like in the way Olise played against Sweden, and as Opta pointed out, the pair have been similarly key in their team’s build-up at the World Cup.
Though Wirtz could perhaps have done more to prevent Germany’s shock exit at the hands of Paraguay, the Liverpool man was still his country’s best hope of scoring.
Opta share that of all the players at the tournament this summer, Wirtz currently ranks third in terms of attacking sequence involvements, totalling the number of shots, chances created and build-up to a shot a player is involved in.
With a total of 34 posted (nine shots, 11 chances created and 14 build-up shots), Liverpool’s No. 7 is two behind Mbappe and four short of Olise, who sits top of this particular list.
The former Crystal Palace man is roaming all over the pitch almost as a free man in France’s attack, and if Andoni Iraola can get Wirtz doing something along the same lines, he could expect similar results to those Didier Deschamps is reaping the rewards of in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
Olise and France offer Iraola the blueprint
Although the past 12 months have coloured Wirtz in a wholly negative view in the eyes of many Liverpool fans, he is still going to be absolutely key to Iraola.
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If the new manager can truly work out the best way to use him, the German could explode in the same manner Olise has at Bayern, and with France this summer.
There is not a drop-off in quality between the two players, with Wirtz arguably a much better creator than the Bayern man.
Though Olise might edge it on pace and dribbling ability, no player in Europe can match Wirtz’s footballing IQ, and in France’s system, with Mbappe, Barcola and Dembele ahead of Olise, Iraola may have a blueprint for how to get the best out of his attackers.
These kinds of fluid attacking systems always need someone to knit everything together, and while Olise is currently that man for France, Wirtz can do it, perhaps to an even higher level, with Liverpool.
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