Florian Wirtz has established himself as a key player for Germany and Bayer Leverkusen after recovering from an ACL injury. Speaking ahead of Germany’s game against Turkey at the Olympiastadion on Saturday night, Julian Nagelsmann praised the 20-year-old and his development.
“I particularly appreciate his creativity and his courage on the ball,” said Nagelsmann. “He is very hard-working and runs a lot of kilometres at Leverkusen. I think he feels extremely valuable and has arrived at Leverkusen – and with us he is a little more humble in his demeanor but he can be that too.”
Both Wirtz and Jamal Musiala are very similar. but are players with a unique skill set that Germany could with. Nagelsmann added: “We need players like him, and like Jamal. I don’t think he’s playing badly at the DFB, but he can be a little cheekier.”
Across 17 games across all competitions for Bayer Leverkusen this season Wirtz has 16 goal contributions (six goals and ten assists), and his performances are a key reason why Xabi Alonso’s side top the Bundesliga.
Since his return from an ACL injury, Wirtz has played 454 minutes for Germany, creating one goal.
Wirtz also comes into Germany’s game against Turkey after winning the Bundesliga Player of the Month for October, earning praise from Freiburg’s Christian Streich following their defeat against Leverkusen last month, which saw the German attacker produce a masterclass.
“That was absolutely world class. You can’t defend against Florian Wirtz,” said Streich.
In the absence of Musiala, Wirtz is expected to start against Turkey.
GGFN | Daniel Pinder
