Florian Wirtz responds to Antonio Rudiger’s heartfelt message after ‘difficult times’
Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz capped off a much-needed victory for Germany after their “difficult” start to the latest international break.
Wirtz‘ status as the Premier League’s headline signing of the summer transfer window has been made old news by recent developments, as Liverpool broke their transfer record again to sign Alexander Isak.
Isak’s £125million switch from Newcastle meant that Wirtz’s £116m move from Bayer Leverkusen was superceded in 73 days, and he already faces calls to be dropped after an underwhelming start at Anfield.
On the international scene, however, it’s been a different story for Wirtz, and Liverpool‘s new number seven played a key role in Sunday’s victory over Northern Ireland after Germany suffered a shock defeat.
Antonio Rudiger rallies Germany after ‘difficult’ spell
As a former Chelsea stalwart now playing for Liverpool’s European nemesis in Real Madrid, Rudiger has few friends at Anfield but was quick to praise Wirtz after his goal in their 3-1 win over Northern Ireland.
Germany were hit with a one-two punch by Slovakia in their first match of the international break with goals either side of half-time, but staged a second-half revival of their own to beat Michael O’Neill’s side.
After Serge Gnabry’s opener was cancelled out by Isaac Price in the first half, Nadiem Amiri put the hosts back in front in the second, before Wirtz curled home a perfectly-placed free-kick to seal the victory.
Rudiger posted images of the celebrations after Wirtz’s goal on Instagram, to say; “T.E.A.M. – this victory means a lot in difficult times”, as the Liverpool star responded with ‘heart’ and ‘handshake’ emojis.
Real Madrid target Liverpool star to replace Antonio Rudiger
Football Insider Verdict
Liverpool’s vast outlay in the summer didn’t come without plenty of money heading the other way as £200million was raised in sales, but one player they managed to keep hold of was Ibrahima Konate.
Football Insider revealed in July that Real Madrid were lining up a £25m bid for Konate after he entered the final year of his contract at Anfield, but are now expected to bide their time until next summer.
Los Blancos adoped a similar stance with their successful pursuit of Trent Alexander-Arnold, and have also entered the race to sign Marc Guehi as a potential free agent with his contract also set to expire.
Liverpool have already lost Alexander-Arnold to Madrid for well below market value and, hesitant to let Konate follow a similar path, will do all they can to ensure both the Frenchman and Guehi are lining up at Anfield next season.