Liverpool boss Arne Slot has delivered an ominous injury update on Florian Wirtz, with the Dutchman admitting that he is unsure when the German playmaker will be available again. Wirtz, who picked up a problem when warming up ahead of the Reds’ Premier League trip to Nottingham Forest, will definitely sit out a home date with relegation-threatened West Ham on Saturday.
Slot said after seeing Wirtz ruled out of his plans at the City Ground that the issue in question was not “very serious”, with the £116 million ($156m) midfielder complaining of a back ailment. Liverpool were hopeful of seeing the 22-year-old make a speedy recovery.
That has not been the case, with the Germany international still stuck on the treatment table. No timescale is being put on a rehabilitation programme that could take days or weeks to complete. Jeremie Frimpong is available again for a meeting with the Hammers, but obvious concerns have been raised regarding Wirtz’s fitness.
When delivering an update on his squad, Slot told reporters: “Jeremie trained with us a few times this week. So he’s available. But I don’t expect Florian to be available. It’s a disappointment. Every time a player is not available is a disappointment, it’s something that I didn’t expect after last week.”
Pressed further on when Wirtz could return, Slot added: “At this moment time, I don’t know. Usually when I say that, I do know and I don’t want to share that. But this time, I honestly don’t know.”
He went on to say of seeing the German playmaker laid low at a stage of the season where he had started to produce his best form – with six goals being recorded through his last 13 appearances: “It’s a big accomplishment for Wirtz to stay fit for such a long time because he had to make a step up from where he played to the Premier League and Liverpool.
“It tells a lot about his mentality and work rate that he has stayed fit for so long. It is a disappointment for him and for us, because he has played really, really well lately.”
That form has helped to highlight why Liverpool invested so heavily in Wirtz during the summer of 2025, as he briefly became the most expensive player in British football before losing that record to club colleague Alexander Isak.
The Reds have high hopes for Wirtz, as do his representatives. They remain convinced that a classy operator will one day register on the recruitment radar of La Liga giants Real Madrid. Interest from Santiago Bernabeu was sounded out when bidding farewell to Bayer Leverkusen.
Agent Volker Struth was the man to ask those questions, and he has said of Wirtz’s long-term future: “This summer, when we were discussing Bayern and Liverpool, I called Xabi Alonso, who was already at Real Madrid, and told him that he had to take Florian with him.
“He told me that he really wanted to, but that I had to go and see Florentino Perez. And I did write to Perez. I wrote to him that I had the player he needed. Florian Wirtz. But even Real Madrid cannot do whatever they want, they have a budget. But I am not giving up and I hope that one day Florian will play for Real Madrid.”
That is a matter for another day, with Liverpool currently focused on chasing down a top-four finish in the Premier League. Slot said of competing with the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea for Champions League spots: “The way I see it, this is another game for us and we are not so focused on other teams as all managers always say. We are only focused mainly on ourselves.
“We know we need to win a lot of games, because our competitors for these Champions League places are very good teams as well. Winning a lot, that is where our focus is. Not so much about points and gaps although we are aware of the table. That’s for sure.”
Liverpool are sat sixth in the Premier League table, level on points with Chelsea and three adrift of old adversaries United. They are about to discover their opponents in the last 16 of this season’s Champions League competition.
