Wirtz struggles, Anderson shines: Sky's verdict

The case against Wirtz

Florian Wirtz arrived at Anfield off the back of three seasons that made him one of the Bundesliga's most dangerous attacking midfielders, including 18 goals and 20 assists for Bayer Leverkusen in 2023/24. Premier League figures for this season put him at 404 minutes, no goals and two assists, with an xG of 1 and an xA of 0.4. Across the whole of 2025/26 those numbers climb to 2,374 minutes, five goals and four assists, with an xG of 6.83 and an xA of 5.14, meaning the chances have been there without consistently turning into end product.

Sky Sports frames that as a player failing to offer a return on Liverpool's investment, a claim tied to the scale of the fee rather than any single number here. Wirtz was valued at €100m as of June 2026, and a midfielder carrying that price tag is judged against a different standard than the one he met at the BayArena.

Anderson's contrast

Elliot Anderson is the flip side of Sky's argument, singled out as a bargain signing at Manchester City without the accompanying fee or output detailed in the available reporting. What we do know is the context he's walked into: City sit top of the Premier League with 18 points from six games, an unbeaten 6-0-0 record and a goal difference of plus 11 under Pep Guardiola. A squad valued at over €1.38bn, with a net spend of minus €152m this window, is not short of competition for places, which makes a cheap addition proving his worth a story in itself.

Why the gap matters

The two cases sit either side of the same question English football asks every window: does the fee predict the output. Wirtz's underlying numbers, an xG of 6.83 against five actual goals over the season, suggest the chances are arriving even if the finishing hasn't followed, which is a different problem to a player who simply isn't getting into the right areas. Anderson's reported value, by contrast, is framed by Sky purely in terms of what City are getting for what they paid.

Neither verdict is final. A 23-year-old with 45 caps for Germany and 11 international goals has time to find his level in a new league, and a bargain tag can look very different by May. For now, Sky's hits and misses column has drawn its line, and Liverpool's record signing is on the wrong side of it.