Florian Wirtz Injury: Progress, Potential Return Date for Liverpool Star

Arne Slot has offered an updated prediction on Wirtz’s recovery timeline.

Florian Wirtz has been remarkably durable for much of his Premier League debut campaign. | Liverpool FC/Getty Images

Rather than looking at the negatives of Florian Wirtz’s current absence, Arne Slot was keen to point out how impressive the summer recruit’s fitness levels have been for so much of the campaign.

While a swollen glut of Liverpool’s new signings have spent large swathes of the season recovering in the treatment room, Wirtz only missed one of the club’s first 26 Premier League fixtures. “It’s, in my opinion, already a big accomplishment for him that he stayed fit for such a long time,” Slot insisted.

“Because he had to make a step from where he played towards Liverpool, towards the Premier League, and that he stayed fit all the time tells you a lot about the mentality and the work rate of a player—and about the performance staff.”

Unfortunately, that longevity was punctuated in the middle of February. Wirtz’s tally of missed matches has rapidly grown and threatens to swell even further over the coming days and weeks.

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What Injury Does Florian Wirtz Have?

Since tearing his ACL in March 2022, Florian Wirtz has only had one non-minor injury issue. | Catherine Ivill/AMA/Getty Images

Wirtz is dealing with a back problem. During his durable start to life in the Premier League, the former Bayer Leverkusen midfielder’s main issue was cramp, a consequence of the searing speed of England’s top flight even compared to its high-tempo German counterpart.

Across his first 15 appearances in the competition, Wirtz played the full 90 minutes just once. Yet, up until his first absence against Nottingham Forest in February, the 22-year-old had seen out seven of 10 successive top-flight matches.

Perhaps that workload caught up to him. Wirtz has never previously missed a senior game with a back complaint. Since tearing his cruciate ligament at 18, the spindly playmaker only sat out more than one match in succession through injury once, towards the end of his final campaign in the Bundesliga when he missed a month with a knee problem. Wirtz’s only previous absence this season was a muscle issue.

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When Will Florian Wirtz Return for Liverpool?

Florian Wirtz is a massive loss for Liverpool. | Liverpool FC/Getty Images

Slot has not been entirely accurate with his predictions for Wirtz’s recovery thus far. After Liverpool’s No. 7 sat out the club’s fortuitous victory over Nottingham Forest on Feb. 22, the Dutch boss predicted that he would have his creator-in-chief back available for the following weekend’s visit from West Ham United.

That premonition fell flat. Slot was forced to concede that Wirtz would not face the Hammers and worryingly revealed that he had no idea when the midfielder would be available. “Usually, when I say that, I do know that but I don’t want to share it, but now I honestly don’t know,” Slot shrugged.

After a 5–2 win over West Ham inspired by set pieces in the absence of his open-play maestro, Slot revealed that Wirtz would likely miss out on Tuesday’s league meeting with Wolverhampton Wanderers. “I think that will be too early,” Liverpool’s manager sighed, “but I said last week I didn’t expect him not to be available for today, so sometimes with an injury things can develop in a positive way or in a negative way.

“Now we are thinking it doesn’t have to take too long, but Tuesday will probably be too early. The week after will be tight as things stand now, but as I said, I thought that he would be available for today as well, which didn’t happen unfortunately.”

Intriguingly, Liverpool are also up against Wolves at Molineux three days later when they meet in the FA Cup fifth round. Given the plight of Rob Edwards’s relegation-doomed side, Slot may be inclined to avoid rushing Wirtz back and instead keep him in reserve ahead of Liverpool’s Champions League last 16 first leg against Galatasaray on March 10.

The Reds have already lost in Istanbul to Gala this season so will need to be at their best to set themselves up for the second leg at Anfield eight days later.

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