"I felt he could be the Kevin De Bruyne that at times got Man City over the line."

Those were Jamie Carragher's hopes on what Florian Wirtz could've been for Liverpool. In the next breath he said "he needs to come out of the team."

To say it's been an underwhelming start to life at Anfield would be an understatement. The price tag (£116m), expectations and comparisons to the likes of De Bruyne have certainly not helped.

If the challenge ahead of Wirtz was like climbing Everest, comparing him to the best the Premier League has or had to offer when their legacies are already cemented isn't going to make life easier.

The issue is, the majority of these names made bigger impacts from the jump. Thus far, Wirtz has played 39 Premier League games since his big-money move last summer. In that time, he has averaged 0.18 assists, 0.16 goals and created 2.2 chances per 90.

Without context, these numbers mean nothing. Compare them to other players and then the problem begins to magnify. In De Bruyne's first 39 Premier League games at Man City, he far outperformed Wirtz in all three of these areas. And it's not just the Belgian.

The same can be said of Cole Palmer at Chelsea and even Martin Odegaard at Arsenal, who was equally hit with claims of a slow start to life at the Emirates.

Those defending Wirtz may argue that isn't all his fault. Assists rely on those he is feeding to finish. True, and he is in the 90th percentile of chances created among all attacking midfielders in Europe's top five leagues since the start of last season. Despite that, his assist numbers don't even put him in the 50th percentile.

However, his expected assists still pale in comparison to what Odegaard and Palmer in particular were managing in their first 39 games at new clubs.

He doesn't even rank in the top three in chances created per 90 for Liverpool this season.

In the areas you'd expect a number 10 to be elite in, Wirtz isn't hitting the mark. Is he valuable anywhere else? He's obviously not a ball-winning midfielder so that's out of the equation. What about ball progression?

Of the quartet, Wirtz ranks lowest in total carries per 90 and above only Odegaard in carry distance and carry progression. He barely cracked the top eight in progressive carries at his club last season too. So, it's not that either.

It continues to beg the question: what is Wirtz to Liverpool? He isn't a prolific goalscorer, nor a prolific playmaker. He is not relied upon to progress his team up the pitch. And the biggest worry of all? He seems to actually be getting worse.

Is Wirtz actually getting worse under Iraola?

The standards Wirtz set last season were deemed as being below par. Yet, they are better than what he is producing under Iraola.

He has dropped to the top 30 and 40 per cent in chances created and touches in the opposition box in the Premier League this season. Last season, he was in the top 10 per cent in both.

He has improved in assists, but, with the greatest respect, that's only because his one assist is a third of his total of three last term. He is marginally better with his progressive carries too, but that isn't his strength and seems more indicative of Iraola's style of play.

The reality seems to be, Wirtz hadn't adapted to English football during his first campaign. That has continued to be the case as he enters his second.

The difference now is, he has a head coach who operates with a style of football that is only going to make it harder for Wirtz to flourish. Creatively, Iraola's history has always been that chances come through his use of wingers. If you use the XI against City as an example, that falls on Bradley Barcola and Victor Munoz.

Wirtz's role in all this? Shuffle the ball on to those players.

For £116.5m, you'd expect more. That's why the criticism is what it is. And if that truly is what his role has now been reduced to, Carragher might be right.

At some point, Iraola will have to consider whether someone else can do what Wirtz is doing while offering at least a bit more defensive stability. There seems little point to judge it based on creative flair, because it appears there's even less room for that in this system.