Perhaps all Florian Wirtz needed was a cuddle from Jurgen Klopp?
The Liverpool attacking midfielder has attracted plenty of criticism again this season but was back among the goals during the international break, scoring for Germany against Serbia at the back end of last week.
Will we finally witness the best of Wirtz once he returns to club action? Given everything we have seen of the 23-year-old since he arrived in English football, it seems unlikely.
So, despite the fact that he has only been at Anfield for just over a year, Andoni Iraola should be thinking of alternative ways to get more out of his attack.
Michael Olise, however unlikely that move may be, is one solution.
Could Liverpool sign Olise?
Last season, Harry Kane labelled Olise as “the best winger in the world.”
Lamine Yamal may have a thing or two to say about that, but it is incredibly hard to dispute Kane’s claim. After all, the numbers the Frenchman has registered since signing for Bayern Munich are truly jaw-dropping.
Last term, the 24-year-old scored 22 goals and registered 26 assists. This season, he has been equally productive. Eight goals and three assists have come from just seven games in all competitions.
There aren’t many better players on the planet right now. The level he has taken his game to after departing Crystal Palace is remarkable.
He’s not just a winger either. This is a player who could replace Wirtz. At the World Cup, he operated as a number 10 at times.
So, could he return to English football? Reports last week suggested a mega £171m move could be made, with Liverpool noted as one interested party.
Bayern, however, have no desire to let him leave, and the wide man is more than happy in the Bundesliga.
As a result, Iraola will likely have to look at other options.
Liverpool already have their own Olise
Liverpool’s fall off since that title win under Arne Slot in 2025 has been strange.
After all, on paper, this Liverpool team have improved. This is a side with Alexander Isak in; it’s a team with Hugo Ekitike and Bradley Barcola in their ranks. Rio Ngumoha is one of the best young players in the world right now too.
Both Barcola and Ngumoha have the potential to become Liverpool’s answer to Olise in the forthcoming years, but we want to discuss a young player who not many are talking about, certainly in comparison to Rio, anyway.
He goes by the name of Josh Abe and, at 16, very much feels like Liverpool’s answer to Max Dowman.
While he is yet to make a competitive senior appearance, he did feature for Iraola during pre-season and he caught the eye. In fact, he’s been catching the eye for a while now.
In August 2025, the Secret Scout regarded Abe as “the best winger in the country at this age” while another scout, Ole Kristoffer, has suggested that his style of play is like Bukayo Saka. In that regard, he’s like Olise too.
A left-footed right winger, he loves to drift inside; the way he manipulates the ball and feints using his body is remarkably similar to both players.
This is a natural goalscorer too. In ten U18 Premier League games last term, Abe netted eight goals and registered three assists.
What makes the winger even more likeable is that he had the chance to leave Anfield behind and didn’t do so. He reportedly rejected a ridiculous £50,000-a-week contract from another club to stay in Merseyside.
As a result, he sounds like a grounded player with good advisors around him. That will only serve him well as he seeks to accelerate his journey towards first-team stardom.
Ngumoha is the young player every fan is talking about but Abe is very much cut from a similar cloth and could well rival his fellow teenager for a place in the team over the coming years.
Together, they look like players capable of taking on either Mo Salah’s famous number 11 or Wirtz’s number 7 shirt. At the rate the German is going, by the time they become first-team regulars, he may well have already left the club.
Source: www.footballfancast.com
