Germany Watch: Florian Wirtz taking patient approach on return from knee injury

When Bayer Leverkusen ace Florian Wirtz suffered a major knee injury during the 2021/2022 season, the first thought for many fans — aside of sympathy — was wondering if the talented youngster would be healthy enough to play in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Wirtz, who has been linked to Bayern Munich in transfer rumors, is making strides in his comeback, but still is not fully ready to go.

Germany manager Hansi Flick named Wirtz to the provisional list of players who will be eligible for selection to the team, but Wirtz is taking a cautious approach. Of course, he would love to be on the World Cup squad, but is also primarily focused on ensuring that he is healthy enough to return.

“My big goal after the injury was simply to be 100% fit again. That’s still the case. I have to keep concentrating on getting 100% fit. All that matters now is to take the next steps in training,” Wirtz told Bild (as captured by @iMiaSanMia). “We will see how things will develop in the next few weeks. Nothing is ruled out, but we continue to look from day to day. Then we’ll see what makes sense.”

Even if Wirtz makes the squad, it would be more to gain the experience and magnitude of the event for the future rather than Flick expecting the Leverkusen man to make a big impact. That might seem like a risky proposition, but Germany has plenty of attackers and if Flick wanted to take one spot as a building block for the future, it would not be shocking.