The damning statistic that highlights Florian Wirtz's struggle to prove his worth

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According to the respected website Transfermarkt, the six most expensively-assembled teams faced by Liverpool this season are Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid. In matches against those opponents, Florian Wirtz has played 755 minutes of football and has not registered a single goal involvement.

That is getting on for 13 hours of football without a goal or an assist against those elite sides. For a transfer fee of £116million, that is not the sort of output a club would expect.

That goes without saying. There is some mitigation for the minimal impact made by Wirtz since arriving at Anfield.

His fellow new signings have had injury issues and the squad has struggled to adapt to the summer overhaul. And again, the difficulty of dealing with the tragic passing of Diogo Jota cannot be understated.

That terrible tragedy clearly had an effect on everyone at the club. It can also be pointed out that Wirtz has been used in very slightly different positions and there is a feeling that Arne Slot is still figuring out the German’s most effective role.

But the bottom line is that the 22-year-old has not made anything like the impression most people expected when he came from Bayer Leverkusen with his stellar reputation. There have been signs of improvement but, particularly against powerhouse opponents, he has come up well short of expectations.

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After the first leg in Paris, Jamie Carragher said: “The best way you can describe Wirtz right now is that he is neat and tidy. And he cost a lot of money.”

And the same could have been said after the second leg produced the same two-goal defeat for Liverpool. Wirtz did some nice things against PSG at Anfield but was a peripheral figure for too much of the game. Some of that is on Slot and his tactics but a lot is on Wirtz himself.

And the run of games to end Liverpool’s disappointing season are going to be crucial for Wirtz if growing uncertainty over his value is to be halted. Wirtz fronted up on Wednesday night and was reasonably defiant.

“The focus goes completely to the end of the season and the Premier League,” he said. “We have to play Champions League football next season.

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“We owe this to the club and to the fans. We will give our best.”

They have a four-point cushion over sixth-placed Chelsea but Laim Rosenoir’s side are one of the six teams Liverpool will face on a tricky run-in. Slot’s men have a Merseyside derby at Hill Dickinson Stadium up next and have trips to Manchester United and Aston Villa ahead.

Liverpool fans are renowned for their patience and it is clearly not unusual for a young foreign player to take time to adapt to the demands of English club football. But Everton, United and Villa away - not to mention Chelsea at home - are the sort of fixtures in which Wirtz now desperately needs to shine.