‘Fantastic’—Jurgen Klopp’s Bold Florian Wirtz Prediction After Underwhelming Debut Season

The former Bayer Leverkusen star has had to adapt to his new life at Liverpool.

Florian Wirtz will represent Germany at the World Cup. | James Gill/Danehouse/Getty Images

Former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has backed Florian Wirtz to be one of the “standout” players of the 2026 World Cup, as the versatile attacker seeks to put the 2025–26 club season behind him.

Amid rumored interest from Real Madrid and Manchester City, Wirtz chose Liverpool last summer in a deal that was briefly a Premier League transfer record—until the Reds broke it just over two months later by signing Alexander Isak from Newcastle United.

Wirtz has taken time to find his feet in a new league and country and, after one particularly humbling defeat to Manchester City, was branded a “little boy” by leading pundit Gary Neville. But he has been by no means Liverpool’s worst signing of a disappointing recruitment class of 2025—that title belongs to Isak. The Germany international has still managed 17 goals and assists for the Reds across all competitions and should be better for the experience come next season.

Wirtz is a key player for Germany. | Marvin Ibo Guengoer/GES Sportfoto/Getty Images

Linking up with his national team for the World Cup will take Wirtz much closer to his comfort zone. He was a starter throughout qualifying—primarily on the left wing—and recent scored twice and assisted twice in a friendly win over Switzerland.

“I hope Flo Wirtz will have a fantastic, fantastic World Cup,” Klopp told BBC Sport. “I think he has everything you need to be a standout player. I don’t want to put any pressure on the boy. I really think he showed already how good he can be in a difficult season.”

German fans will be hoping Wirtz can take his level up a notch this summer, with the four-time champions trying to bounce back from disastrous tournaments in 2018 and 2022—both ending in shock group-stage eliminations.

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Which Liverpool Players Will be at the 2026 World Cup?

Jürgen Klopp is excited for lots of his former Liverpool players. | Joe Prior/Visionhaus/Getty Images

Liverpool are set to be well represented at the World Cup in North America. Including Wirtz, the Reds could have 12 players selected for the tournament. It could have been more, but for Hugo Ekitiké’s Achilles injury ruling him out until 2027. Curtis Jones is also unlikely to get picked by England.

Many of the others who will go played a Liverpool under Klopp.

“I hope that Andy Robertson and Alisson Becker can enjoy that when they meet each other [for Scotland vs. Brazil]. Can you imagine that you play together for such a long time and Scotland qualifies first time, I don’t know since when, for the World Cup, and you meet each other, your friends, in a game like that? I mean, that must be one of the happiest moments in your life.

“I wish Virgil [van Dijk] will have a great tournament. I really wish for Mo [Salah] that he will have a great tournament. I honestly wish that Sadio [Mané] will have a great tournament. [Alexis Mac Allister], if he won, if they win it again. It was so nice to see him with a medal around his neck.

“So many [of my] former players are part of the World Cup, which is really, really nice.”

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Liverpool Players Set for 2026 World Cup Selection

Player	Country
Alisson Becker	Brazil
Wataru Endo	Japan
Virgil van Dijk	Netherlands
Cody Gakpo	Netherlands
Jeremie Frimpong	Netherlands
Ryan Gravenberch	Netherlands
Ibrahima Konaté	France
Florian Wirtz	Germany
Alexander Isak	Sweden
Alexis Mac Allister	Argentina
Mohamed Salah	Egypt
Andy Robertson	Scotland

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