Carragher's Wirtz U-Turn: From Doubter to De Bruyne Comparator in Three Months

Jamie Carragher's assessment of Florian Wirtz has undergone a dramatic transformation. The Sky Sports pundit went from expressing serious doubts about the Liverpool midfielder's ability to adapt to English football to now comparing him favourably with Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva – a rather significant leap in the space of just three months.

Wirtz put in a stellar display at the weekend, netting and providing an assist as Liverpool demolished Newcastle 4-1 at Anfield. The performance underscored his growing influence for the Reds, a marked contrast to the uncertain opening chapter following his £100m arrival from Bayer Leverkusen last summer.

His initial struggles were pronounced enough to raise eyebrows. Blanking for goal contributions across his opening dozen matches left some questioning whether the German possessed the requisite sharpness for top-flight football. Carragher was among those raising concerns, pointing to Liverpool's illustrious foreign imports as a benchmark.

Back in October, the former defender stated: "If I'm being honest, if I think of the great foreign signings – Sami Hyppia, Mo Salah, Sadio Mane, Luis Suarez, Didi Hamann – they all hit the ground running. I can't think of many who had an average, poor start. I'm not talking seven games by the way but if you're getting to Christmas and January and being like, 'Oh'. History doesn't tell me that foreign signings come into England take a year."

Fast forward to the present, and Carragher's tune has changed entirely. He now reckons Wirtz possesses the calibre to inherit De Bruyne's mantle – arguably the Premier League's finest attacking midfielder – whilst suggesting shades of Silva's graceful, aesthetically pleasing style of play.

Speaking on Monday Night Football, Carragher offered this assessment: "Wirtz is getting better all the time. Eventually, the mantle has to be passed on, and there is no doubt the lad has real quality. The Premier League has lost Kevin De Bruyne, but we have gained Wirtz. We are talking about special players coming into our league. I have watched him a lot and thought about whether he can get to De Bruyne's level. When I watch Wirtz, I think he could be lovely on the eye like David Silva, but he has almost a bit of both."

He added: "I'm not sure if he will get the numbers De Bruyne got. But, talking about a slow start… one of the games was City away and Gary Neville said he looked like a boy out there – now he has City at Anfield this weekend. He is confident. He has gone from a little boy, and it's a great opportunity to shove those words down Neville's throat."

The shift is striking. Carragher has swung from one extreme to another, trading his initial scepticism for rather starry-eyed enthusiasm based on recent performances that have yielded four goals and two assists across eight games.

Wirtz is undoubtedly a pleasure to watch, and there's genuine hope that he'll flourish as Liverpool's torchbearer for attacking midfield excellence. But perhaps the prudent approach would be to resist the temptation to replace one knee-jerk reaction with another. Give the lad a full season or two before crowning him as anyone's successor.