It has been three months since Liverpool sealed a deal worth up to £116 million to make Florian Wirtz their new game-changer, but they may need to wait another year at least to start seeing a return on their investment.
Seven games into his Liverpool career, Wirtz is struggling to make his mark, and he certainly wouldn't have expected to experience his first Merseyside derby as a substitute, watching it from the sidelines.
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But thanks to a combination of Liverpool's significant summer overhaul, the breakneck speed of the Premier League and the vast array of attacking talent in Arne Slot's squad, Wirtz has looked as though he spent an hour inside a washing machine whenever he walks off the pitch.
So far, Wirtz has failed to score or create a goal in a competitive game for Liverpool. His only assist came against Crystal Palace in the Community Shield, a game that's categorized as a friendly.
In the matches he has played, he has been a peripheral figure. The Everton game was the first time that Slot decided to take Wirtz out of the starting lineup. And without him, Liverpool won again.
Will the Germany international eventually come good in a Liverpool shirt? It's more than likely that he will -- Liverpool's perfect run to open the season has certainly helped ease any public pressure -- but don't bet on Wirtz being the real deal this season.
Wirtz is not the first flair player to arrive in England with a big reputation and struggle to instantly live up to the hype. Dennis Bergkamp and Roberto Pires both became Premier League greats on Arsenal's legendary teams under Arsene Wenger, despite both enduring a tough first season in England.
Juan Sebastian Veron, regarded as one of the best attacking midfielders in the world when he left Lazio for Manchester United in 2001, never adjusted to the pace of the Premier League at Old Trafford or his next club, Chelsea. Mesut Ozil developed a reputation for only being able to perform at his best in home games for Arsenal rather than the more demanding away fixtures.
One source has told ESPN that Man United grew wary of signing attacking midfielders from Germany following the failures of both Shinji Kagawa and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, signed from Borussia Dortmund in 2012 and 2016, respectively. United believed that the Bundesliga's slower pace and less congested fixture list meant that the majority of players are unprepared for the whirlwind of games and physicality that they immediately encountered in the Premier League -- something Wirtz has struggled with to date.
"If you bring in, as we do, very, very good players, so, so talented but from different leagues and young -- Florian is 22 and 23 Hugo [Ekitike] -- I think it is normal. If you are not 27 or 28 you maybe need to make a step towards the Premier League, and that's what these two are doing," Slot said earlier this month.
Wirtz, 22, rejected interest from Manchester City and Bayern Munich to sign for the Premier League champions in June, despite both of those clubs arguably offering the former Bayer Leverkusen playmaker a more obvious role in the team than he has found at Anfield.
At City, Pep Guardiola wanted Wirtz to replace the goals and vision of Kevin De Bruyne, following the Belgium international's free agent move to Napoli. Bayern would have enabled Wirtz to form a devastating partnership with Harry Kane in a league he had already grown to dominate during his time at Leverkusen.
It is easy to see Wirtz slotting into both teams and enjoying a much easier transition, but he chose Liverpool because of the lure of Anfield and also the club's vision of him becoming the centerpiece of the team's attacking machine for years to come.
But such has been the churn of ins and outs at Anfield this summer -- six major new arrivals, six first-team departures, plus the tragic loss of Diogo Jota -- that Slot's new team is still molding together.
Hugo Ekitike has made an incredible start with four goals in seven games since his £79 million transfer from Eintracht Frankfurt, but Milos Kerkez has been inconsistent at left-back, Jeremie Frimpong has been hampered by injury and Alexander Isak is still finding fitness after arriving on deadline day from Newcastle, having barely trained properly all summer.
Wirtz has been perhaps the most disappointing arrival so far, but the performances of established players including Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch and Virgil van Dijk have helped propel Liverpool to a 100% start in all competitions, meaning Wirtz has largely escaped the spotlight of scrutiny.
But while it has become easy for coaches to say a player has been "rested" or "rotated" after being omitted for a game, the reality is that Wirtz was dropped for Saturday's derby win because Slot needed 11 players who he knew could handle the physical demands of the fixture.
Slot spoke of rotating his squad because Liverpool are in the midst of an "intense" period of fixtures, with Wirtz dropping out against Everton because of that. Three weeks earlier, after Wirtz was substituted with a cramp in the closing stages of the team's 1-0 win against Arsenal at Anfield, Slot made another reference to the player having to acclimatize to the aggression and speed of the Premier League.
"It wasn't an injury," Slot said. "It was a welcome to the Premier League! After 85 minutes, I don't think he knew he could have cramp in so many different places. That is welcome to the Premier League, that is welcome to playing in this intensity."
But it's not just down to Wirtz needing time to adjust. It's also about Slot having to work out the best way to use a player who scored 12 goals and registered 22 assists for Leverkusen in the Bundesliga last season, largely in a more advanced role.
Wirtz has been unable to play further forward because Ekitike, Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo have been delivering in the attacking positions and unlike Leverkusen, Liverpool don't rely on Wirtz to make things happen in the final third.
Perhaps when Salah vacates the stage and Liverpool need a new talisman, Wirtz will step up. At 22, he has been signed for the long-term -- and life after Salah at Anfield.
It may be a while before he really starts to perform as Liverpool expect, but right now, Wirtz is simply trying to catch his breath in his fast and furious new world.