Despite investing heavily in Wirtz, who is still searching for a spark at the start of 2026-27, Liverpool cannot wait forever for him to come good and two seasons may be all that he gets in order to earn a long-term future on Merseyside.

He may not be given that long, with Hamann – speaking in association with Betinia NJ – telling GOAL when asked what Wirtz needs from the current campaign and when exit rumours could surface: “He’s got to start playing well. He has to start influencing the game.

“I think he’s a player who floats. He’s probably not got that respect from the other players that sometimes maybe he can stop defending, because I think you’ve got to give him certain liberties and a certain freedom, that you’ve got players who win the ball back for him. And the players don’t mind doing it if when he does get the ball 10 times, six, seven, eight times, something’s going to happen. That’s just not the case.

“Now he’s working very hard going backwards. I think sometimes he’s doing too much. He wants to help the team because he sees that he can influence the game going forward. So I think the balance in his game has been wrong, but he will only get the respect of the players when he starts influencing the game going forward. He’s not there to win balls, he’s there to set up goals and score goals.

“I think there were maybe a handful of games where he did that last season. And it’s simply not enough. And obviously, everybody’s talking about the physical side of the Premier League. Yes, it’s more physical. And some of the best players took some time to adapt. I think [Juan Sebastian] Veron came lauded as the best midfield player. I think he lasted one season and went back to Italy. So some just can’t do it or don’t want to do it.

“And obviously, the longer it goes on now, because I said the first two or three months, give him time. I said he’s too good to fail. But once it went past Christmas, I said, I don’t think he’s going to crack it anymore because it’s too long now. Because expectations are not getting any less.

“I think if he doesn’t start playing well, he came off again in the first game after 60 minutes. I think if he doesn’t start influencing games in the next three or four weeks, I think by the time we have that international break, which is longer this year, I think we have a lot of paper talk, a lot of discussions, whether the club should have bought him, which is obviously too late because he’s there. And maybe him thinking, ‘well, maybe this is not for me’.

“I think something will happen because for a player of that magnitude, of that stature, the amount of money he costs, it’s simply not enough. You’ve got to find a solution somehow, maybe even in winter, if things don’t get better.”