Too good for the DFB plans: Flick gets a problem with Wirtz

Too good for the DFB plans
Flick has a problem with Wirtz

By Tobias Nordmann

Florian Wirtz is the next super talent at Bayer Leverkusen. The little playmaker is also considered a coming man in the national team. Hansi Flick slowly introduces him to the team. But the 18-year-old is already threatening to become a luxury problem.

If you type in Florian Wirtz on Google, you will immediately receive numerous suggestions on how to search for the Bayer Leverkusen youngster more precisely. Surprisingly, however, neither his club nor FC Bayern, which is supposed to have a lot of interest, and not the national team that Wirtz traveled to on Monday evening, is shown as a proposal. Instead, it’s a lot about the video game Fifa, Instagram, his girlfriend – and his hair. They are actually a big issue for many people. As the “Lego hairstyle” is apparently referred to by many users on the Internet, as the portal “t-online” has unearthed.

Now it is really curious that one of the most spectacular talents in German football is being talked about in this way. One shouldn’t do that. It is better to deal with the spectacular things that the 18-year-olds are putting in the sporty shop window these days. Because there is probably no footballer in the Bundesliga at the moment who creates more enthusiasm. Not even Erling Haaland from Dortmund. You have long got used to its phenomenal ideas in chord anyway. Besides, he’s injured right now. And then it attracts attention as a spectator in the stands with its fashionable extravagances. You can talk about it earlier.

Florian Wirtz has played eight competitive games for Bayer Leverkusen this season. He has scored six goals and prepared five goals. To call this record absolutely outstanding is no exaggeration. And no matter what plans the club had with its next top talent, they should all be on the done pile. Because careful assembly is no longer possible. In the first phase of this season, Wirtz has already acquired the status of indispensable. In the spectacle troupe from the Rhine, he is the playmaker, the key player.

“Corona has accelerated career”

The offensive player, who was born in Pulheim near Cologne, immortalized himself in the annals of league history just a few days ago with his winning goal in Leverkusen’s 1-0 win against Mainz 05. The goal was already his tenth goal in the first division. At 18 years and 145 days, Wirtz is the youngest player to have achieved this. The record was previously held by world champion Lukas Podolski, who scored his tenth goal at the age of 18 and 353 days in 2004 for Wirtz ‘ex-club 1. FC Köln. The fact that he didn’t go professional there, but a few kilometers further in Leverkusen, it should hurt the “Effzeh” in particular. However, the way to the Bundesliga team should not have been shown to him as clearly as at Bayer.

But even there they are a little surprised at how phenomenally fast the rise from talent to formative regular player succeeded. “Corona has actually accelerated his career,” said Leverkusen’s sports director Simon Rolfes recently in an interview with “Sport-Bild”. Wirtz had “developed more rapidly than was foreseen. What nobody could foresee was the lockdown in March 2020. As a result, there were no lessons in schools,” said Rolfes about the then 16-year-old student. He then asked father Hans-Joachim whether Wirtz could train with the professionals. This resulted in an enormous boost in development; in the phase of the first shutdown, the talent was “able” to “immediately adapt to the professional level in training.” After the three months until the end of June 2020, it was clear that Wirtz would not still play in the U19. A wise decision. Garnished with a new contract until 2026 and a significantly higher salary. A defining decision. Rewarded by a formative player.

Löw still waived

In the national team he is still a long way from this role. He only played 47 minutes for the team of national coach Hansi Flick in the World Cup qualification. Spread over the three games against Liechtenstein, Armenia and Iceland. It shouldn’t stay that way. It won’t stop there. Joachim Löw’s successor had already indicated how impressed he is with the small midfielder. “Like all young players, he is a huge win thanks to his carefree attitude,” enthused Flick. “He is an excellent technician, very enthusiastic and creative. He has a good finish on goal and is very eager to run. That is a good overall package.”

Löw voluntarily renounced this good overall package in the summer. At the European Championships he preferred to rely on proven forces and nominated only one talent with Jamal Musiala from FC Bayern. That, however, helped the team with his brisk manner. Especially in the decisive group game against Hungary, when he significantly prepared the important 2-2 (because it meant advancement) by Leon Goretzka. Musiala had prevailed strongly on the outside track. It is possible that Wirtz, with his strengths in the final, preparation and game overview, would have been a massive win for the national team.

But he still helped the football nation Germany this summer. In the rather surprising EM triumph of the U21s, he had his golden moment in the semifinals. In the semifinals against the Netherlands, he scored both goals in a 2-1 win. And that in a furious way in the first eight minutes. The routes, the degrees, the “feeling for time and space” as well as his serenity would certainly enable him to climb quickly into the A-Team, said René Adler, who accompanied the EM as an expert at ProSieben. It’s done now. And causes problems.

Scary competition?

It should be somewhat undisputed that Florian Wirtz, with his spectacular development and in his current form, is massively pushing into the team. Perhaps not yet in the upcoming games against Romania and North Macedonia, but certainly with a view to the coming year, which will end with the World Cup in Qatar. But when he pushes into the team, he first has to push out another player. And that’s the crux for the talent and for the coach. On the possible positions, attacking midfield (his strongest position) and both flanks, Flick has a remarkable density of international top quality. Thomas Müller is at the center. As a footballer, but also as a leader. Kai Havertz, Wirtz’s predecessor as Bayer’s top talent, also wants to play, but can also imagine the role of the striker.

Ilkay Gündogan, who has never been as strong in the national team as he was at Manchester City, also wants to prove that he can play a key role in the DFB team. His qualities would best come into play in attacking midfield. He regularly proves this under club coach Josep Guardiola. Müller, Havertz, Gündogan, these are impressive competitors. The situation on the wings is hardly less intimidating. Serge Gnabry and Leroy Sané, who was kissed awake by Flick, play there. And the all-rounders Musiala and Marco Reus also repeatedly provide arguments for sustainable ambitions for a regular place.

Flick can still be relaxed. In the World Cup qualification there are many rather simple opponents waiting. With a view to the impending overload due to the many assignments in the club and many courses at the DFB, the national coach can rotate comfortably. But in just over a year the controversial World Cup in Qatar is due, at some point Flick has to create a framework, create hierarchies and find a solution how to deal with Wirtz. If its development continues like this. Incidentally, this is not yet an issue at Google.

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