Jürgen Klopp outlines how Liverpool can get the best out of Florian Wirtz

Of course, club fans do not want their players to go away with international duty, and would rather they were wrapped up in cotton wool. This is due to the constant fear of injury, with Liverpool already losing Cody Gakpo and Alexander Isak during this break; the severity of both their issues is not yet clear.

However, it can go the other way. Players can also benefit from being on international duty, especially those not enjoying the best of times with their clubs. Well, that is certainly the case for Florian Wirtz. Given that this was Jürgen Klopp's first set of fixtures in charge of Germany, Liverpool fans were hoping that their former boss could reinvigorate the struggling 23 year old.

Well, there have certainly been positive signs in recent days. On Thursday night, Wirtz scored a sublime goal during die Nationalelf's 2-0 victory over Serbia at the Allianz Arena. The impudent touch that takes him around Srđan Babić, in balletic fashion, before sending Đorđe Petrović the wrong way, is not the action of man lacking confidence.

Three days later, Wirtz wore the armband for the first time as die Mannschaft held Greece to a goalless draw in Thessaloniki. Klopp's team will now need to beat both Serbia in Belgrade and Netherlands at the Olympiastadion in Berlin next month to reach the Nations League quarter-finals.

Speaking after Sunday's scoreless stalemate at Toumba Stadium, the 59 year old was asked how he believes a coach can get the best out of Wirtz, having this to say:

We have to look at where he's most valuable to us. And that's definitely in the half-spaces. There's no question about that. Of course, he can also play on the wing, for example in a 4-3-3. But as soon as we have the ball, he should move back into the half-spaces... . For Flo, the left half-space would be the perfect position. When he scored, he was in the centre, and that's where he belongs.Jürgen Klopp

Klopp also noted that Wirtz played "sensationally" at Bayer Leverkusen when deployed in a central role, outlining that he is at his best when "he doesn't have the game at his back". Well, Andoni Iraola agrees, stating pretty early on in pre-season that he views the German "in a position behind a striker", exclussive deploying him as a number ten and never on the left, as was often the case under Arne Slot.

So, why are Liverpool fans yet to see the best of their £116 million recruit? Amazingly, since the start of February, Wirtz has scored four times for Germany, on target against Switzerland twice, Finland and now Serbia, while scoring only once for the Reds during this period, netting right at the end of April's 3-1 win over Crystal Palace at Anfield.

Despite having been at the club for over a year, Wirtz appears out of sync with his team mates and devoid of any confidence. Iraola will hope this week and a bit away with the national team will have helped restore some of the latter.