IS SLOT HIDING SOMETHING? DECODING THE MANAGER’S CRYPTIC UPDATE ON FLORIAN WIRTZ’S BACK INJURY
Florian Wirtz injury update! Read Arne Slot’s worrying admission and the latest on Wirtz’s agent's secret Real Madrid transfer talks.
Liverpool manager Arne Slot has shared some worrying news about Florian Wirtz’s injury. Slot admits he has no idea when the German midfielder will be back. Wirtz hurt himself while warming up before Liverpool’s Premier League game at Nottingham Forest and won’t play against West Ham this Saturday.
Wirtz is dealing with a back problem. Slot explained after the Forest match that it’s not a “very serious” issue, but Wirtz, the £116 million signing, is still complaining about his back. The club hoped he’d bounce back quickly, but that just hasn’t happened. He’s still stuck in rehab, and there’s no timeline for his return; it could be days, it could be weeks. There’s some good news, though: Jeremie Frimpong is available again for the West Ham match. Still, Wirtz’s absence is a big concern.
Asked about the situation, Slot told reporters, “Jeremie’s trained with us a few times this week. He’s ready. But I don’t expect Florian to play. It’s disappointing. Any time a player’s out, it’s disappointing, especially when I didn’t see it coming after last week.”
When pressed about when Wirtz might return, Slot said, “Right now, I genuinely don’t know. Usually, when I say that, I do know and just don’t want to say. But this time, I honestly have no idea.”
Wirtz’s injury comes at a rough moment. He was finally hitting his best form, scoring six times in his last 13 matches. Slot praised him, saying, “It’s a big deal for Wirtz to have stayed fit this long, especially after stepping up from his old club to the Premier League and Liverpool. It shows a lot about his mentality and work rate. We’re disappointed he’s been playing really well lately.”
That strong run explains why Liverpool spent so much on Wirtz in the summer of 2025. He briefly became the most expensive player in British football until Alexander Isak broke that record. Liverpool has high hopes for him, and so do his agents. They’re convinced he’ll end up on Real Madrid’s radar someday. Apparently, there was already interest from Madrid when Wirtz left Bayer Leverkusen.
Wirtz’s agent, Volker Struth, talked about those talks: “This summer, while we were discussing Bayern and Liverpool, I called Xabi Alonso at Real Madrid and told him he had to take Florian. He said he wanted to, but I’d have to go see Florentino Perez. So I wrote to Perez and told him I had the player he needed, Florian Wirtz. But even Real Madrid has a budget. I’m not giving up, though. I hope one day Florian plays for Real Madrid.”
FINANCIAL EXPERTS PREDICT £120M HIT IF LIVERPOOL MISS 2026-27 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SPOT
Liverpool face a £120m disaster: Read about the Champions League race, Arne Slot’s anger, and the impact of the £400m summer spend.
Liverpool’s in a tight spot right now. After losing to Wolves at Molineux, they’re clinging to fifth place, usually good enough for a Champions League spot, but the cushion isn’t exactly comfortable. They’re just three points ahead of Chelsea, who still have a game in hand against Aston Villa. That race is heating up fast.
Virgil van Dijk summed it up pretty well: “Either we get it, and we deserve it, or we don’t get it, and we don’t deserve it. If you play for Liverpool, it’s always been like this. It’s down to us, together with our fans, to get the results we need to get into the Champions League.” He also mentioned that Arne Slot, the head coach, wasn’t exactly thrilled after the loss; “angry” was the word he used.
But it’s not just about pride or missing out on big European nights. There’s a lot of money on the line. Football finance expert Kieran Maguire pointed out that missing out on the Champions League could leave a big dent in Liverpool’s bank account, even if the club runs pretty sensibly these days.
UEFA’s numbers tell the story. Liverpool earned €98.1 million (£85.3 million/$114 million) just for reaching the last 16 of the 2024–25 Champions League. Compare that to the Europa League, where they only received €26.8 million (£23.3 million/$31.1 million) for reaching the quarterfinals last season. The gap is massive.
Even winning the lesser European trophies doesn’t come close. Tottenham got €41.4 million (£36 million/$48.1 million) for winning the Europa League, and Chelsea picked up €21.8 million (£20 million/$26.7 million) for the Conference League. It’s nowhere near what Champions League teams bring home.
Maguire also pointed out the other hits: fewer home match days, less broadcast cash, and sponsors that pay out less when the club misses the top tier. He reckons missing out could cost Liverpool around £120 million ($160 million). Still, he doesn’t think it’ll sink the club.
And it’s not like Liverpool have been shy about spending. Last summer alone, they shelled out more than £400 million ($534.5 million) on big names like Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak – the biggest single-window spend in football history, actually.
Even with all that, Liverpool just reported record revenues of £703 million ($939 million) for the year ending May 2025, turning a modest £8 million ($10.7 million) profit. And here’s the kicker: despite that wild summer, Liverpool ranks only eighth in net transfer spend over the past five years. They’ve been splashing the cash, sure, but they’ve kept things balanced in the long run.
WHAT’S MISSING? WHY 16 GOALS AND 6 ASSISTS AREN'T ENOUGH FOR HUGO EKITIKE
Liverpool's top scorer Hugo Ekitike reflects on a massive win at Anfield and explains why he’s still hungry for more goals.
Hugo Ekitike isn’t exactly thrilled with his goal tally for Liverpool this season, even though he’s still leading the pack as the club’s top scorer.
He got his 16th goal of the season on Saturday, kicking things off in Liverpool’s 5-2 win over West Ham at Anfield. Not bad for his debut year. Plus, the 23-year-old, who came over from Eintracht Frankfurt last summer for up to £79 million, set up two more goals for Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo. That puts him at 22 goal involvements so far.
Still, Ekitike thinks he’s got a lot more to give. He missed solid chances against Nottingham Forest, Sunderland, and Manchester City recently, and that’s still bugging him.
“To be honest, I could score more,” he said. “I’m not that happy! But it’s not just about goals; it’s assists too. On Saturday, I set up one or two. As long as I’m helping the team and being involved, that’s what really matters. I want to win, so in that way, I’m happy.
“Obviously, I can improve. I could’ve scored in those last games; I had some good chances. So I’ll keep working. I want to be the best I can for the team, because I know I can do more.
“It’s all about learning and getting better. I’ll try to step it up in the next games, score more, and get involved even more.”
His goal against West Ham came after Liverpool kept the pressure on from a corner. Four of their goals that day came straight from, or just after, set pieces.
“We had some problems at the start of the season,” Ekitike said about Liverpool’s set-piece struggles. “We’ve all talked about it and worked on it together in training. It’s great to see it paying off now. We deserved it; honestly, we’ve put a lot of work into this.”
Saturday was the first of seven huge games in just over three weeks. Liverpool were up 3-0 at halftime, but West Ham didn’t just roll over; they made Liverpool work for it in the second half, fighting to stay out of the relegation zone.
Talking to liverpoolfc.com, Ekitike said, “Scoring early in games like that helps, for the team and for the fans. You feel more confident. And going in at halftime 3-0 up, that’s always good.
“But they showed it’s not over till it’s over, they fought back, and we let a couple in. When that happens, you have to score more, and we did. We got five.
“We’ve got to keep going, because there’s a long way left in the season. But yeah, I’m really happy. That win mattered.”
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