Wirtz Creativity Can Cover Trent Alexander-Arnold's Loss

Florian Wirtz is Liverpool's creative solution (Instagram/@liverpoolfc).

JAKARTA - Liverpool coach Arne Slot said he believes new player Florian Wirtz's creativity can help cover Trent Alexander-Arnold's loss to Real Madrid this summer.

The Dutch coach spoke after his team had just showcased the new player worth around 270 million pounds in a 3-2 win over Athletic Club in a friendly match, Tuesday, August 5, 2025.

Goals are still scored by old players who gave Premier League titles, such as Mohamed Salah, who also missed a penalty in stoppage time, and Cody Gakpo.

Wirtz's first appearance at Anfield gave fans a glimpse of why the club made him the most expensive player. Some of the intelligent touch and slick interactions and almost scored the opener into the former Bayer Leverkusen dish.

"I think there's always room for improvement in every line. We've added some, in my opinion, additional weapons."

"Florians have a lot of creativity in the final third. We've lost a lot of players without Trent. Creativity from the back lines."

" Trent's cross view, runner is very special. Flo has this quality in a completely different position. He brings that creativity," Slot said after the game.

Wirtz's colleagues who are also new players show that they are adapting well. Jeremie Frimpong is well connected to Salah. Wing-back Milos Kerkez is solid and Hugo Ekitike is showing flexibility up front.

Wirtz's header hit the crossbar before Ekitike provided a cross to Salah who scored and Gakpo scored twice after the break.

Liverpool entered the match against Athletic Club with only one centre-back performing because Virgil van Dijk was sick and Joe Gomez was injured.

They looked vulnerable in a set piece situation so Maroan Sannadi's header - which was calculated to have committed suicide, Cody Gakpo - from a corner equalized 2-2.

"In another pre-season game, we conceded from too many chances. However, against Athletic we barely conceded anything. It also made me happy."

"So, conceding two goals from a dead ball situation in the second game is not what you want, especially if you face Crystal Palace (Community Shield) next week, a very tough team in a dead ball situation. That's another thing that needs to be fixed," said Slot again.