Wirtz, Isak & Diomande shine at World Cup as Iraola plots Liverpool revival

Liverpool's new head coach Andoni Iraola will use the World Cup as a fact-finding mission on the players he has inherited, as well as scouting those he could add to refresh a squad that suffered in a miserable defence of their Premier League title.

As he settles in after succeeding sacked Arne Slot, Spaniard Iraola will have had an intriguing day gathering intelligence as he had an interest in all games on day four of the tournament.

So what will have caught Iraola's eye as he formulates his plot to revive Liverpool after arriving from Bournemouth?

Florian Wirtz arrived at Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen last summer amid great fanfare in a then-British record £116m deal - but remained an enigma as he fell far short of expectations.

Liverpool still have huge hopes for a gifted attacking player who has only just turned 23, which means one of Iraola's main tasks is to find a settled position for the German to release the talent he demonstrated before moving to Anfield.

This is why Iraola will have been intrigued by what he saw from Wirtz in Germany's 7-1 win against Curacao in their opening World Cup game.

The context must be that this was against a side ranked 82nd in the world, but in the colours of his country and in favourable conditions, Wirtz showed some golden touches.

In his first campaign at Anfield, Wirtz too often appeared a square peg in a round hole, playing in behind the strikers as well on the flanks, but never flourishing.