Germany have spent years searching for a player who makes the side feel dangerous without the ball even moving. Wirtz is that player. The problem is that Germany have not always known what to do with him.
At club level, his value is unambiguous. He operates in the half-spaces, pulls defenders into decisions they don't want to make, and accelerates transitions before the opposition can set. He is not a conventional number ten — he drifts, he overloads, he appears in pockets that shouldn't exist. That unpredictability is the point.
What Germany Need From Him
The national team context complicates things. Germany's default shape demands discipline and positional structure. Wirtz functions best when he has permission to break those rules. The tension between system and individual has quietly defined his international career so far — flashes of brilliance, but rarely the sustained influence he shows at club level.
The 2026 World Cup offers a different kind of pressure. Germany arrive with the weight of a country that still measures itself against 2014 and recoils at 2018 and 2022. For a generation of supporters, this tournament is not about building — it's about delivering. Wirtz, at this stage of his development, is the player they've pointed at and said: him.
That is both fair and slightly unfair. He is genuinely one of the most complete creative midfielders in the tournament. His ability to play through pressure and initiate transitions quickly gives Germany an attacking dimension they've lacked. But no single player resolves a structural question about how a side wants to press, recover, and transition collectively.
The Counterargument Worth Taking Seriously
There's a version of this World Cup where Wirtz is managed conservatively — kept in a narrower role, protected from the ball-winning responsibilities that would expose him physically against elite opponents. That version probably underuses him. The more interesting version asks Germany to build their transitions around his instincts rather than fitting him into a template built for someone else.
Whether the manager makes that call is the real story of Germany's campaign.