New men will fit right in-l wasn't good enough

WIRTZ AND FRIMPONG CAN SUCCEED WHERE I FAILED (BUT I’LL NEVER REGRET TRYING) SAYS EX-RED MEIJER

- By IAN DOYLE

ERIK Meijer is confident that both Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong can succeed where he failed at Liverpool.

The Reds have agreed a £116m club-record deal with Bayer Leverkusen over for the Germany international, while the Dutchman joined last month from the Bundesliga outfit as Liverpool activated a £29.5m release clause in his contract.

One-time Netherlands international Meijer was the first player to represent both the Reds and Leverkusen, moving to Anfield on a free transfer from the German side in the summer of 1999.

But the 55-year-old, who is these days a Bundesliga pundit, ultimately only spent a season and a half with Liverpool, scoring twice from 27 appearances, before returning to Germany on a permanent basis with Hamburg.

Looking back, Meijer can admit he was not quite good enough to play for the Reds or in the Premier League.

But that did not stop him from beating himself up at the time as he struggled to prove himself under Gerard Houllier.

"If you don’t try, you don’t know, so I would always say try it," Meijer said in an interview with the ECHO when asked if he had any advice for Wirtz and Frimpong.

"Because when you are 55 you cannot play anymore.

"If you are 100% confident to go over, go to England. My main things that I found out is that the tempo is much higher, there is more pressure, you have better opponents who are on a higher level.

"In the Bundesliga you have four or five teams who are a certain level. In the Premier League, everybody is a high level. So they are some big steps up.