Liverpool's big-money superstar is now at risk of becoming club's worst signing since Naby Keita

Liverpool looked like they’d pulled off one of the greatest transfer windows in Premier League history this summer and seemed set to not only coast to a second consecutive English crown, but enter the Champions League as heavy favourites.

It was a window that appeared on par with the very best. Think Manchester United signing Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra, Ji-sung Park and Edwin van der Sar in the same year, their city rivals bringing a host of stars to the Etihad in 2010/11 including Yaya Toure, David Silva, Edin Dzeko and Aleksandr Kolarov or Chelsea welcoming Jose Mourinho by providing him with Didier Drogba, Ricardo Carvalho, Arjen Robben and Petr Cech.

Yet only a few months later and Liverpool look like they’ve emulated Tottenham’s post-Gareth Bale 2013/14 summer instead. Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong have so far failed to adapt to Arne Slot’s needs, Giovanni Leoni is out for the rest of the season and they’re just the minor problems.

And while British record signing Alexander Isak has failed to make a mark yet, there’s the mitigation that he arrived at Anfield without a pre-season and is yet to get a proper run in the team. By contrast, Florian Wirtz has had his opportunities but resoundingly failed to take them, and is running the risk of becoming The Reds’ worst signing of the decade.

Wirtz battling weight of transfer history

It’s hard to remember the last Premier League arrival who created as much hype as Wirtz. Enzo Fernandez was still relatively unknown in England despite winning the World Cup when Chelsea made him the country’s biggest signing, while at the other end of the scale audiences were already familiar with Romelu Lukaku.

Big-money transfers between Premier League clubs like Jack Grealish to Manchester City or Declan Rice to Arsenal also failed to drive the same intrigue, so you have to go back to Paul Pogba or Angel di Maria’s moves to Manchester United to match the expectation that faced the 22-year-old when he arrived on Merseyside.

Ironically though, Isak may have eclipsed it within a matter of weeks after his antics to force his move to Liverpool. However, when cheap players fail to hit the ground running, they’re given the breathing room to reset, adapt and develop without the constant media scrutiny and expectation that they will make a game-changing impact every week.

Pogba moved in the same transfer window as Andy Robertson, who though healthy, only played in two of Liverpool’s first 14 Premier League matches that season.

He didn’t even appear in the Champions League until the last 16 (he was an unused substitute twice in the group stage), but went on to start in the final against Real Madrid, the following season’s victorious finale and play 91% of minutes as Liverpool won their first Premier League title the year after that.

Meanwhile the mental strain of becoming the world’s most expensive footballer gradually wore away at Pogba so even though he enjoyed a better start to his career in the north west than Robertson, there’s no debate over who left the better legacy in England. Even someone as psychologically bulletproof as Zlatan Ibrahimovic failed in his biggest move, effectively a world record fee to Barcelona given the value of Samuel Eto’o in the swap-plus-cash (though there were tactical reasons involved too).

None of that helps Liverpool or Wirtz though, so can he turn it around?

Keita or Henry? Wirtz requires major turnaround

It’s a testament to Liverpool’s recruitment under Jurgen Klopp that you have to go back as far as Naby Keita to find a marquee signing who truly flopped. Darwin Nunez obviously wasn’t great, but had his moments in red and crucially was sold for a relatively small loss while Keita (who’s somehow still only 30 years old) was a more established player when he arrived, left on a free and did precious little in between.

Wirtz is a serious challenger to the Guinean though. After making 69 goal contributions in two seasons as Bayer Leverkusen’s talisman, he’s yet to score or assist in the Premier League and has disrupted the balance of Slot’s starting lineup whenever he’s been included in the 11.

What’s even more worrying is that this isn’t just a Liverpool problem - Wirtz has played 180 minutes against Luxembourg in the last two months and failed to register a goal contribution then either. The German is obviously struggling with the physicality and intensity of the Premier League, but even if he can adapt to that and adjust his instincts to that pace, the damage it’s done from the neck up will be harder to undo.

It is possible though. Thierry Henry scored one goal in his first 15 top flight games for Arsenal and was benched, then dropped completely before he turned into one of the most lethal attackers on the planet while Cristiano Ronaldo had a rocky start to his Manchester United career and went on to do alright. Wirtz has the technical ability to emulate both of those careers - but only he can mastermind the turnaround required.