2 weeks ago
17
Florian Wirtz will start for Liverpool against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium this afternoon.
Arne Slot benched the German for their 2-0 win over Aston Villa last weekend but he returned in midweek against Real Madrid and looks set to start on the left wing again.
That means that Arne Slot is retaining the midfield formula of Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, and Dominik Szoboszlai which has seen them win both of those games and indeed the league title last season.
Moving Wirtz to the left flank is the method Slot is using to give him game time for now after signing the 22-year-old for a whopping £116million from Bayer Leverkusen over the summer.
In the long-term, there is an acknowledgement that Wirtz's preferred position is the number 10 role while his shifting out wide also comes at the expense of Cody Gakpo.
His selection comes after Slot angrily swiped down Arsene Wenger's claim that he 'destroyed' his midfield to shoehorn Wirtz into the side.
More to follow.
