Slot insists 'artist' Wirtz possesses the mentality to handle the intensity of a Mersey derby

ARNE SLOT believes Florian Wirtz has the right mentality to handle the Merseyside derby,- saying the £116m Liverpool man wouldn't have reached the Premier League without it.

- By PAUL GORST

And the Reds boss, whose side host Everton on Saturday lunchtime, has claimed the Germany international won't be inhibited by the price tag on his shoulders.

Florian Wirtz has yet to score a goal or create an assist in the Premier League since his move from Bayer Leverkusen but turned in his most encouraging display to date in Wednesday's 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.

“I think to say that he’s [only] an artist doesn’t do him justice,” Slot said.

“He is an artist, but he can be mean as well. Otherwise, you can’t reach the levels he’s reaching.

“He works incredibly hard here in this building to get better and better and better.

“So that mentality he has inside of him and you also see that mentality when he loses the ball once or twice.

“He's not going to hide, he wants the third one, he wants the fourth one.

“In general, it’s not just about Florian, we have to play three games in seven days.

“And if you've watched what we did on Sunday and what we did on Wednesday, we are trying to manage to get them all fit through these three games because it's not a present that we got to play in the beginning of the season three games in seven days.

“We [don’t have] long conversations [about fees]. Sometimes you see when you pass them or in aremark like: ‘Virgil, if you put inflation to that, he would be just as expensive as you’