Uli Hoeness has criticized Arne Slot. Bayern Munich’s honorary president is unhappy with Florian Wirtz’s situation at Liverpool. The extremely expensive summer signing has so far barely shown his qualities in England. According to Hoeness, Slot is to blame for that.
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Last summer Bayern Munich and Liverpool went head to head for the signature of Florian Wirtz, the brightest star to emerge from Bayer Leverkusen in recent years.
For Bayern, bringing in the German international was more than just a big transfer. It was about underlining their dominance in the domestic market and making sure that one of the country’s greatest attacking talents stayed in the Bundesliga. Within the club, Wirtz was treated as an absolute priority, the kind of player around whom a new attacking era could be built.
Instead, Bayern saw Wirtz choose a move abroad. The playmaker opted for Liverpool, attracted by the idea of testing himself in the Premier League and becoming a central figure in a new project under Arne Slot. The fee involved turned him into one of the most expensive signings of the summer and raised expectations to an enormous level, both in Germany and in England. Many expected Wirtz to arrive and instantly become the creative heartbeat of the team.
Up to this point, however, the transfer has not developed into the runaway success that many had predicted. From the viewpoint of Uli Hoeness, Bayern Munich’s honorary president, the reasons are clear. In his eyes, Liverpool manager Arne Slot is playing a negative role in the way Wirtz’s first months in England have unfolded, and he does not hold back when it comes to pointing the finger.
Hoeness says he feels genuinely sorry for Wirtz. He describes a player who, in his opinion, has not been given what he was promised during the talks that preceded the transfer. According to Hoeness, Slot assured Wirtz that he would be used in his favorite role as a classic number 10, operating centrally behind the striker, where he could constantly get on the ball, dictate the rhythm and make the difference in the final third. Wirtz reportedly valued that promise enormously, because at Leverkusen that central role had allowed him to flourish and become one of the most influential players in the Bundesliga.
Beyond that, Hoeness claims that Slot also painted a picture of a team rebuilt around Wirtz, with the young German at the center of the entire attacking structure. The idea, in that version of events, was that Liverpool would be reshaped to maximize his strengths, surround him with the right profiles and give him the platform to be the star of the project. For Hoeness, the reality on the pitch looks completely different, and he does not hesitate to label those promises as pure nonsense.
In practice, he argues, Liverpool did not construct a system around Wirtz at all. Instead of making him the clear number 10, Slot brought in another midfielder who, in Hoeness’s words, is more of a number 7 profile, and adjusted the team in a way that leaves Wirtz on the margins rather than at the center. The new structure, in his view, is anything but built around the German playmaker.
From a tactical point of view, Hoeness believes that Wirtz is simply not being used in the right position. Rather than roaming in pockets of space between the lines, collecting the ball constantly and being free to combine and create, he finds himself in zones where he is less involved in the game. That, inevitably, reduces his influence. At Leverkusen, the entire attacking system was designed to get him on the ball as often as possible. Team mates instinctively looked for him, and he was allowed to take risks, try things and occasionally lose the ball without being judged harshly for it.
Hoeness draws a sharp contrast between that environment and what Wirtz is facing now. In his description, at Leverkusen the playmaker received almost every ball, and if he lost it a couple of times nobody made a big issue of it. The overall goal was to keep feeding him, because everybody knew that his creativity and risk taking would eventually produce something decisive. At Liverpool, on the other hand, Hoeness feels that Wirtz is only seeing the ball a handful of times per half. With so few touches, any mistake is magnified. If he loses the ball twice out of five actions, he immediately appears inefficient, and that reflects poorly in the eyes of coaches, analysts and fans.
From the German perspective, that is a fundamental problem. A player like Wirtz lives from rhythm and confidence. He needs a constant flow of passes, a system that encourages him to try the unexpected and a coach who accepts that his style naturally involves some turnovers in exchange for moments of brilliance. If he is used in a more restrictive role, or in a position where he has to do more defensive work and fewer creative actions, then his unique strengths are dulled.
Hoeness’s criticism also reveals a broader frustration that has existed for some time within parts of the German football establishment. Bayern had seen Wirtz as a natural symbol for the future of the club and perhaps even for the Bundesliga as a whole. Watching him go abroad and then, in their eyes, being used in a way that does not bring out his full potential, inevitably touches a nerve. It raises the old debate about whether young German talents are better served staying in the Bundesliga, where they are given star status, or moving early to the Premier League, where competition and pressure are different and patience is often limited.
For Liverpool and Arne Slot, the situation is equally delicate. A transfer of this magnitude always comes with scrutiny. If a player of Wirtz’s profile is not immediately shining, the tactical choices of the manager come under the microscope. Is he being played in the right position, with the right responsibilities, and surrounded by the right partners in midfield and attack. Hoeness’s comments amplify that discussion by suggesting that promises were made and not kept, which implies a gap between the project that was sold in private conversations and the reality that has unfolded on the pitch.
In the end, the core of the debate is simple. Wirtz is a gifted attacking midfielder who thrives on freedom, touches and trust. Hoeness believes that Liverpool and Slot have not yet created the conditions for him to be that kind of player. Instead of being the focal point, he has become just one piece in a larger puzzle, and a piece that is not always in the right place. Whether that will change over time, as Slot continues to adjust his system and Wirtz settles into English football, remains to be seen. For now, though, the honorary president of Bayern Munich has made his verdict very clear, and he does not hide that he feels more sympathy for the player than for the manager who is currently in charge of him.
