In the debut against Scotland in Munich (5-1), Julian Nagelsmann designed a sophisticated and even countercultural Germany with the placement of Kay Havertz as a false nine. The variant, which will be repeated tonight in Stuttgart against Hungary (9:00 p.m., TVE1), forces the host team to be the exclusive dominator of possession of the ball from the control exercised by Toni Kroos. From there, its most creative players have the obligation to reach the area inside and out.
Florian Wirtz (Pulheim, 20 years old) was the one who best performed that role in the Germans’ resounding debut against the Scots. Wirtz appeared from the balcony of the area to open the scoring. “He has improved his shot as a goalkeeper from the second line,” warns Gerardo Seoane, the coach of Galician origin who coached him at Bayer Levekusen and is now in charge of Borussia Mönchengladbach. Wirtz has been the most disruptive player for Leverkusen who has won the last Bundesliga and the German Cup under the direction of Xabi Alonso. His influence on attacking play is revealed by some records, 18 goals and 20 assists, reserved for different players.
“He is a boy who Leverkusen signed from the Cologne youth team, one of their great rivals. Peter Bosz made him debut in the first team and he established himself as a starter with me. He has a lot of ambition, you don’t need to motivate him, but you had to explain to him why things were done, because he is one of those kids from the new generations who asks everything,” says Seoane.
Wirtz was ending his contract with Cologne and Leverkusen, with its general director at the helm, the Spanish Fernando Carro, acquired his services after guaranteeing that he would enter the dynamics of the first team. At 17 years and 15 days old, Wirtz became the youngest Leverkusen player to make his Bundesliga debut. The premiere of it, in the midst of the covid pandemic, was one of the great joys that German fans were able to see in their homes. “He is different from the others in the field, he has instinct to know where to move,”
·”Play with just a few touches to solve complicated situations,” Seoane analyzes. Xabi Alonso has also praised him for that virtue. “Messi is so good because he knows how and when he has to give the passes. It’s not about always making the prettiest movement but rather the best and most intelligent one. Florian can do it. That is why he is also so good,” said the Basque coach in an interview in the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
“He needs freedom, Xabi Alonso makes him play as a false winger, but he covers a lot of ground. He has no physical problems, he runs 12 kilometers per game and makes many repeated efforts,” Seoane emphasizes. “He is a special, different player. We have to take him into account because he is going to make a difference in this Euro Cup,” defends Grimaldo, a La Roja player, with whom he has formed a very productive partnership at Leverkusen.
In this Germany of Nagelsmann his partner is Musiala. The German coach already warned at the start of the tournament of the importance of both. Therefore, he urged them to reflect this with the improvement of their statistics in the national team. Wirtz had only scored one goal in 18 games. “They both have it all together, enormous talent, very good mentality, but great players have to be measured by numbers.”
“He can play with other players with similar characteristics, like Musiala, because they know how to respect each other’s spaces,” adds Seoane. Wirtz’s tactical intelligence comes from his father, who at 75 years old still runs a football school. The father is also his agent and is no stranger to the attraction that his son provokes in the big European clubs. “They are a humble, hard-working and very football-loving family. His sister also plays soccer. They continue to accompany and advise him,” says Seoane.
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