Klopp defends Wirtz: "He joined Liverpool at an absolutely unfavorable moment"

You don't pay 116 million pounds (about 154 million dollars) for just any player, which is why every shaky performance from Florian Wirtz at Liverpool gets picked apart under a microscope. But a clear message has come out of the German national team: stop demanding explanations from the kid, because the story is more complicated than it looks.

Jürgen Klopp, now in charge of Germany, came out to defend his countryman at the press conference ahead of this international break's matches. And he didn't mince words when it came to putting Wirtz's arrival at Anfield last summer into context, a year that, as he explained, was marked by a tragedy that few people remember when judging his performance.

"When you see the full context, you realize that Florian joined Liverpool at an absolutely unfavorable moment, tied to the death of Diogo Jota," Klopp said. "He joined a team whose priority at that moment wasn't football, which is completely understandable," the coach added, referring to the emotional blow the squad went through after losing the Portuguese forward.

For Klopp, that first year served as a learning experience for the former Bayer Leverkusen man, and now things are starting to fall into place: there's a new manager at Liverpool, and in his view, the team is gradually rebuilding the kind of cohesion that becomes so noticeable when a talented player needs teammates who make the game easier for him. "He's putting in a really good physical level, and the team has started to regain its cohesion once again," he explained. "Attacking players always need a team that functions well around them. And anyone who loves football can still see how extraordinary Florian Wirtz is as a player."

A call-up ahead of schedule

Klopp's original plan was for Wirtz to feature only in the matches against Serbia and Greece, the third and fourth games of this double header. However, injuries to Kai Havertz and Jamal Musiala during the 1-1 draw against the Netherlands forced an earlier call-up. Wirtz won't start on Sunday, but he's already part of the squad list for that match. "We need to make sure Flo feels comfortable here and can fit into the role we've imagined for him. Hopefully he can just be himself," the coach added.

The support didn't come only from the bench. Jonathan Tah, Wirtz's former teammate at Leverkusen and now at Bayern Munich, was even more direct on the subject.

I find it pretty extreme how he's been attacked. I know the kind of player he is and I know he's going to shine even more. I know what he's capable of and eventually everyone is going to understand it.Jonathan Tah

Tah also took the chance to highlight Klopp's immediate impact in the German locker room, something he said was felt from the very first team meeting.

It's the experience he brings from every club, that mix of fun and passion, that absolute will to win, and also the way he drags the team along with him. He can really fire us up. I think after our first meeting, we all walked out thinking: 'Okay, now we're ready to go through fire together.'Jonathan Tah

Tah wrapped up his point by noting that Klopp's ability to unite a group is something that had already been seen before, and that it's probably one of the keys to why he's done so well throughout his career.