Wirtz, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Szoboszlai: Who Misses Out?
Four elite midfielders, three starting shirts. We break down the strengths, weaknesses and tactical fit of Wirtz, Gravenberch, Mac Allister and Szoboszlai under Iraola — and give our verdict on the best trio.
The Best Problem in Football Most managers in world football would trade their entire squad for this problem. Liverpool have four bona fide top-class midfielders — a World Cup winner, a £100m German wonderkid, a Dutch international engine and a Hungarian dynamo — and only three starting shirts to hand out. Under Andoni Iraola, whose Bournemouth sides were built on relentless vertical pressing and rapid transitions, how these four are used (and who sits) may end up defining Liverpool's season more than any single signing. Let's break down what each player actually offers — not to crown a winner, but to lay out the genuine trade-offs Iraola is weighing every single week. Florian Wirtz: The Creator Wirtz is the most gifted pure footballer of the four, and it is not particularly close. His game is built on manipulating space between the lines — receiving on the half-turn, drawing defenders out of position, and releasing team-mates with disguised through-balls that most players in the league simply do not see. At Leverkusen he was directly involved in a goal roughly every other match across multiple seasons, numbers no other Liverpool midfielder can currently match. The catch is intensity. Wirtz is not a natural presser in the mould Iraola demands — his defensive value comes from intelligent positioning and delaying play rather than aggressive, sustained counter-pressing in the opposition half. Playing him in a midfield three means one of the other two has to cover disproportionately more defensive ground, which is a fair price to pay for his creativity, but not one every team news line-up can afford against the league's better sides. Ryan Gravenberch: The Engine Room Anchor Gravenberch's value is control. Deployed as the deepest midfielder, he offers a rare blend for a Liverpool number six: genuine physical power, elite ball-carrying out of tight areas, and the composure to keep possession moving under pressure rather than simply recycling it sideways. He rarely gives the ball away in dangerous areas, and his ability to drive 20-30 yards through midfield turns defence into attack in a way a conventional holding midfielder cannot. What he is not, yet, is a chance creator. His final product remains a level below the other three — fewer key passes, fewer goal contributions — which is exactly why his best use is as the platform the other two are built on, not as one of the two attacking outlets himself. Alexis Mac Allister: The Balancer Mac Allister is the player who makes the other three work. He is comfortable dropping into the back line to help build from deep, press-resistant enough to escape tight areas that would trouble a less technical midfielder, and disciplined enough positionally to cover for a more advanced partner without needing to be told twice. A World Cup winner at 24, his game intelligence is arguably the single most underrated attribute in this entire midfield. He will not out-dribble Wirtz or out-sprint Szoboszlai, but he is the only…