Bundesliga News

Leverkusen chief compares Wirtz with Havertz

By Rune Gjerulff   @runegjerulff

Bayer Leverkusen bosses Rudi Völler and Gerardo Seoane have waxed lyrical about Florian Wirtz following the youngster's impressive start to the season.
Florian Wirtz.
Florian Wirtz.
Bayer Leverkusen managing director for sport Rudi Völler has praised the development of Florian Wirtz, comparing the 18-year-old midfielder to Kai Havertz.


Havertz broke into Leverkusen's first team at a very young age and established himself as a key player before he departed BayArena for Chelsea in a deal worth €80 million last summer.

Fortunately for Leverkusen, Wirtz has followed in the footsteps of his Germany teammate and seems to be developing at a similar pace.

"The speed of Florian's development is special," Völler told Sport Bild of Wirtz, who has had an outstanding start to the new season, racking up four goals and four assists in five games under new head coach Gerardo Seoane.

"Like Kai Havertz, all possibilities are open for him. He will make his way forward in exactly the same way," added Völler.

Although Wirtz is getting a lot of positive attention, Seoane doesn't think the young midfielder is being negatively influenced by the praise being heaped on him.


"The biggest task after the summer was to classify his first full season as a professional. We succeeded in doing that well, picking him up, working through everything, also taking some pressure off him," Seoane told Kicker.

"He has displayed an incredibly good attitude since I've come here. It's actually getting better and better," continued the Leverkusen coach.

"He has been incredibly efficient. Of course he will be a little less efficient at times. It's not possible to make every decision correctly and only hit the ball with that kind of precision. But what he does, he already does with a high level of quality."


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