Liverpool supporters will surely be rushing out to buy Germany national team shirts after the appointment of Jurgen Klopp on Friday morning.
The legendary former Reds manager has signed a four-year deal with Die Mannschaft, and should therefore lead them into the 2030 World Cup, when there’ll be a few on Merseyside hoping they lift the trophy.
In the more immediate future, fans will be hoping that Klopp can help to get more out of Florian Wirtz, who needs to step up during 2026/27 after a disappointing first season with Liverpool.
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Wirtz will surely improve under Andoni Iraola, but it also sounds like Klopp has a plan for him, with the 59-year-old talking up Liverpool’s No. 7 before and during the recently finished World Cup.
Klopp urges Liverpool and Germany to give Wirtz the ball
Klopp has clearly watched a lot of Wirtz, and during Germany’s dismal showing in the USA, Canada and Mexico, he outlined a way to get the best out of the 23-year-old: simply give him the ball as often as possible.
“The important thing is that we involve him in the game. There were moments against Curacao when I thought, ‘just give him the ball’,” Klopp said on Magenta TV during Germany’s round of 32 match against Ivory Coast.
“If you really want Flo Wirtz to get into a rhythm, if you want the place to really be buzzing, then give him the ball, because that’s when he feels completely at home. It’s important to involve him because that’s when Flo can feel confident and comfortable on the pitch.”
READ MORE: Jurgen Klopp takes two former Liverpool coaches with him to join the German national team
“He shouldn’t drop back and get the ball from his own penalty area and we expect him to start making plays, we have to find moments where we can use this position, because with his positioning he creates a lot of space for the players next to him, for the full-backs and for everyone who can make runs into those space.”
While this clearly points to how Klopp will use Wirtz for Germany, it should also be instructive to Iraola, who will no doubt be in conversation with one of his Liverpool predecessors about the former Bayer Leverkusen prodigy.
If the two coaches can get on the same page, special things could happen. As Klopp told The Diary of a CEO in October 2025, he is absolutely certain that Wirtz will come good.
“You all will eat your words if you use the wrong words with Florian Wirtz,” he said. “He’s an incredible talent and player.”
Klopp went even further while speaking to German broadcaster RTL around the same period.
How does Andoni Iraola fit Wirtz and Isak into Liverpool’s starting XI next season?
Will we finally see the best of them after encouraging World Cups?
“He’s a once-in-a-century talent,” he said. “And at some point he’ll show that in every game again, as he did at Leverkusen. (He has) a stable environment at Liverpool, and the club is great in moments like these. If anyone’s worried – you don’t have to! You can stop.”
Klopp can now have a direct hand in making sure Wirtz pulls himself out of his current sticky patch, and that could be great news for Liverpool and Iraola.
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