{"id":507528,"date":"2026-03-01T14:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T14:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/507528\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T14:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T14:42:09","slug":"progress-potential-return-date-for-liverpool-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/507528\/","title":{"rendered":"Progress, Potential Return Date for Liverpool Star"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rather than looking at the negatives of Florian Wirtz\u2019s current absence, Arne Slot was keen to point out how impressive the summer recruit\u2019s fitness levels have been for so much of the campaign.<\/p>\n

While a swollen glut of Liverpool<\/a>\u2019s new signings have spent large swathes of the season recovering in the treatment room, Wirtz only missed one of the club\u2019s first 26 Premier League fixtures. \u201cIt\u2019s, in my opinion, already a big accomplishment for him that he stayed fit for such a long time,\u201d Slot insisted.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause he had to make a step from where he played towards Liverpool, towards the Premier League, and that he stayed fit all the time tells you a lot about the mentality and the work rate of a player\u2014and about the performance staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, that longevity was punctuated in the middle of February. Wirtz\u2019s tally of missed matches has rapidly grown and threatens to swell even further over the coming days and weeks.<\/p>\n

What Injury Does Florian Wirtz Have?\"Florian<\/p>\n

Since tearing his ACL in March 2022, Florian Wirtz has only had one non-minor injury issue. | Catherine Ivill\/AMA\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Wirtz is dealing with a back problem. During his durable start to life in the Premier League, the former Bayer Leverkusen midfielder\u2019s main issue was cramp, a consequence of the searing speed of England\u2019s top flight even compared to its high-tempo German counterpart.<\/p>\n

Across his first 15 appearances in the competition, Wirtz played the full 90 minutes just once. Yet, up until his first absence against Nottingham Forest<\/a> in February, the 22-year-old had seen out seven of 10 successive top-flight matches.<\/p>\n

Perhaps that workload caught up to him. Wirtz has never previously missed a senior game with a back complaint. Since tearing his cruciate ligament at 18, the spindly playmaker only sat out more than one match in succession through injury once, towards the end of his final campaign in the Bundesliga when he missed a month with a knee problem. Wirtz\u2019s only previous absence this season was a muscle issue. <\/p>\n

When Will Florian Wirtz Return for Liverpool?\"Florian<\/p>\n

Florian Wirtz is a massive loss for Liverpool. | Liverpool FC\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Slot has not been entirely accurate with his predictions for Wirtz\u2019s recovery thus far. After Liverpool\u2019s No. 7 sat out the club\u2019s fortuitous victory over Nottingham Forest on Feb. 22, the Dutch boss predicted<\/a> that he would have his creator-in-chief back available for the following weekend\u2019s visit from West Ham United.<\/p>\n

That premonition fell flat. Slot was forced to concede<\/a> that Wirtz would not face the Hammers and worryingly revealed that he had no idea when the midfielder would be available. \u201cUsually, when I say that, I do know that but I don\u2019t want to share it, but now I honestly don\u2019t know,\u201d Slot shrugged.<\/p>\n

After a 5\u20132 win over West Ham<\/a> inspired by set pieces in the absence of his open-play maestro, Slot revealed that Wirtz would likely miss out on Tuesday\u2019s league meeting with Wolverhampton Wanderers. \u201cI think that will be too early,\u201d Liverpool\u2019s manager sighed, \u201cbut I said last week I didn\u2019t expect him not to be available for today, so sometimes with an injury things can develop in a positive way or in a negative way.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we are thinking it doesn\u2019t have to take too long, but Tuesday will probably be too early. The week after will be tight as things stand now, but as I said, I thought that he would be available for today as well, which didn\u2019t happen unfortunately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Intriguingly, Liverpool are also up against Wolves at Molineux three days later when they meet in the FA Cup fifth round. Given the plight of Rob Edwards\u2019s relegation-doomed side, Slot may be inclined to avoid rushing Wirtz back and instead keep him in reserve ahead of Liverpool\u2019s Champions League last 16 first leg against Galatasaray on March 10.<\/p>\n

The Reds have already lost in Istanbul to Gala<\/a> this season so will need to be at their best to set themselves up for the second leg at Anfield eight days later.<\/p>\n

READ THE LATEST LIVERPOOL NEWS, ANALYSIS AND INSIGHT FROM SI FC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rather than looking at the negatives of Florian Wirtz\u2019s current absence, Arne Slot was keen to point out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-507528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}