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Florian Wirtz has received an endorsement from an unexpected figure: former Manchester United star Dimitar Berbatov.
The elegant Bulgarian, who enjoyed a successful four-year stint at one of Liverpool’s biggest rivals and netted 54 goals during his time there, firmly believes that the £116 million German talent will surmount his initial challenges and shine at Anfield.
During an appearance on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, Berbatov expressed his admiration, stating, “I love him. He’s a fantastic player. He will be unbelievable, trust me.”
He continued by assuring, “I’m sure that everybody sees his quality, and they’ll give him the time he needs to integrate into the team. I guarantee you, he’s going to be a success.”
Berbatov also drew parallels between Wirtz and football icon Luka Modric, who remains a formidable presence at age 40 with AC Milan.
Florian Wirtz has struggled at the start of his Liverpool career but Dimitar Berbatov backed him
He added: ‘The way he sees football, how he looks for the space, how he knows how to position himself, the touches on the ball, the improvisation, the eye for the pass and for the goals.
‘Of course, someone can argue that his physique is not that great for the Premier League. But then you can easily see the great players of his position, like Modric, also the same build.
‘Modric. F***ing monster. It’s unbelievable. So give him time. I think he’s going to be unbelievable for Liverpool.’
The first big move of Berbatov’s career was to Wirtz’s old side Bayer Leverkusen where it took him a while to find his feet.
And he had the same experience when making the leap up to the Premier League with Tottenham.
He believes Wirtz’s ambition will be greater than his fear of failure, as his was during his playing days.
‘The same process was happening when I went to Leverkusen,’ he explained. ‘In the beginning, it didn’t work out quite well. I needed to be patient. In Spurs, again, new environment, again, new people, new language, new everything.
‘Again, the things were taking slowly to happen for me. I was thinking, maybe I need to go back.
The former Man United star compared Wirtz’s issues with his own problems
Wirtz delivered two assists against Eintracht Frankfurt but Liverpool are on dreadful form
‘But when I was thinking like this, then my other, not personality, but my other me, was telling me “No, no, no, no, you see what happened in Leverkusen, just be patient, you have the quality and deserve to be here. You wanted something to change. Now you’re here. Now be stubborn, be patient. Keep working, not sitting. It’s not going to fall like this on your lap”.
‘You basically want to go to your safe place, your safe environment. But you need to have that motivation and that ambition in you as well to overcome the fear. So my ambition was bigger than my fear.’
Wirtz delivered arguably his best performance in a Liverpool shirt in the 5-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League last week, providing two assists.
Until then, he’d made no goal contributions in a struggling side, with Arne Slot’s men having now lost six of their last seven games.
They were knocked out of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night by familiar foes Crystal Palace after Slot put out an almost completely changed side littered with youngsters.
Wirtz and the first team were rested on the night ahead of Saturday’s huge clash with Aston Villa, who are level on points with Liverpool going into the 8:00pm kick-off.