Bundesliga’s Blue-Eyed Boy — Florian Wirtz
Euro 2012 was the tournament that got me into football. I still have vivid memories of Balotelli’s overhead kick vs Ireland, Pirlo’s freekick vs Croatia, Lahm’s screamer vs Greece, Ronaldo’s header vs the Czech Republic, and much more. As a 13-year-old watching these superstars in action, little did I think that a day would come when players younger than me would receive the same level of adulation.
This article is about one such player whose abilities have left me in complete awe. It’s Bayer Leverkusen’s teenage sensation, Florian Wirtz. The club has a reputation for promoting exciting young attackers. Few that immediately come to mind are Julian Brandt, Leon Bailey, Moussa Diaby, and of course Kai Havertz. So it wasn’t a big surprise when there were talks about a promising 17-year-old coming to the limelight at Leverkusen. That was until I witnessed the magic myself.
Wirtz first caught my attention during the U-21 Euro last year. Germany had a strong team with players like Nico Schlotterbeck, David Raum, Ridle Baku, and Lukas Nmecha, all of whom are performing very well in the Bundesliga now. One of the youngest names here too, Wirtz stole the show in the semi-final against the Netherlands. He ended up scoring a brace within the first 10 minutes of the match. The goals he scored showed not just his raw dribbling and shooting skills but also his ability to anticipate moves, find space between defense and midfield, and make brilliantly timed runs between two defenders. But this was just the tip of the iceberg.
That summer, Wirtz wasn’t the only Bayer Leverkusen player to grab attention internationally. Patrick Schick also finished as the top scorer of Euro 2021. There was a genuine curiosity surrounding the club at the start of this season. But when I saw them thrash Borussia Monchengladbach 4–0 in just the second match of the season, I was glued. Wirtz was floating with the ball, dribbling past players, getting into dangerous positions, and finding space for fun. And he has been doing so since.
While Wirtz can play in various positions across the pitch, he more or less operates as a No 10 within the Leverkusen setup. Picking the ball in the midfield, he likes to make direct forward runs, not afraid to go one on one with defenders. During counterattacks, he is usually the one connecting defense to the frontline. With his quick thinking and sublime passing, Wirtz creates ample opportunities for the team in the final third. In fact, as of matchday 25, Wirtz tops the Bundesliga chart for highest Goal-Creating Actions alongside Muller and ranks third in highest Shot-Creating Actions after Muller and Nkunku. Not to mention he can hold his own in front of the goal too.
His elegance on the ball is well complimented by his defensive abilities. As per Fbref, his numbers per 90 for pressures and interceptions are over 80 percentile among the attackers in the top 5 leagues of Europe. And the boy has a mean streak, often looking eye to eye with players much larger and older than him. Ultimately, it's his passion for the sport, his way of interpreting it and exploring it through his movement, his dribbling, his passing, and more that makes him so special.
At this point, I feel it is important to mention that a big chunk of credit for Wirtz’s development goes to FC Koln. He was part of that club’s academy for nearly 10 years when Bayer 04 caught a whiff and decided to sign the teenager in 2020. We should also note that his growth at Leverkusen hasn’t been an isolated event. The club is currently sitting at 3rd place in the Bundesliga table, well placed to play Champions League football next season. This is in large part to the combined brilliance of Schick, Wirtz, and Diaby. Schick is enjoying the first 20 goal season of his career and Diaby can be seen tormenting defenders on the wings day in and day out. But Wirtz is the one orchestrating all this. The trio already boasts of a combined 46 goals and 25 assists between them this season.
All this is not to say that the boy is flawless. There have been times when the chip is down and Leverkusen are on the backfoot. Wirtz, in order to bring things under control, ends up trying to do everything by himself, often unsuccessfully. He is also prone to losing the ball while trying to dribble within the opponent’s penalty area. This works within the confines of Leverkusen since the club tends to give him a lot of creative freedom. But in the future, he might (rather is likely to) end up moving to a bigger club that doesn’t share Leverkusen’s level of freneticism. That would call for a more disciplined and team-oriented approach from Wirtz.
Would he successfully make the jump from a promising youngster to a world-beater? I hope so, but only time will tell. Until then, all we can do is enjoy the enigmatic brilliance of Florian Wirtz.
