An Everton man speaks up for Liverpool's most expensive ever signing

It is not every day you look to Goodison Park for kind words about a Liverpool player, but Merlin Rohl has broken with tradition. The Everton midfielder has weighed in on the debate surrounding Florian Wirtz, and his verdict is a straightforward one: the Germany international is being judged by a number rather than by what he actually does on a pitch.

Rohl knows Wirtz from their time together in German football, and he is not buying the scrutiny. "People don't quite know how to rate him yet," he told German publication Kicker. "Then there's that huge transfer fee, which doesn't make things easy for anyone. But Flo is an incredibly good player. You're either praised to the skies or, at times, verbally torn to shreds. In a way, I think it's precisely these extremes that fascinate people here about the sport." It is a measured take, and one that cuts through a lot of the noise that has followed Wirtz since his £116m move from Bayer Leverkusen last summer.

Rohl's own position debate takes a back seat

The wider interview offered a window into Rohl's own situation at Everton, which has been anything but straightforward. After his loan from Freiburg was made permanent in the summer, he spent a significant chunk of pre-season and the early weeks of the campaign deployed at right-back rather than in midfield, covering a problem area that David Moyes had been grappling with for some time. The signing of Ainsley Maitland-Niles in the final hours of the transfer window has since eased that issue, but Rohl says the experience has genuinely changed how he thinks about his role.

"I'm completely past worrying about which position I play now," he said. "You can offer the team different things depending on the situation, and in that sense, the specific position becomes completely secondary. It was a process for me; it wasn't always that way. The people in charge at Freiburg, in particular, might remember it differently, as there were discussions there about my preference for playing as a number eight."

The transformation, he says, was shaped in no small part by two men who know rather a lot about playing full-back. "It developed through a process and very close dialogue with Leighton Baines. He was one of the best in the world in that position. Then there's Seamus Coleman, another legend here, who also played as a full-back. These are two people who have become very important to me and from whom I'm learning an incredible amount."

What Maitland-Niles' arrival means for Rohl

With competition now officially in place at right-back following Maitland-Niles' arrival, Rohl is taking a collaborative rather than a territorial approach. "We can learn from each other," he said. "We have slightly different profiles when it comes to our play with the ball. That gives the coach another option in this position. I simply want to keep improving so that I'm good enough to play every game."

It is the kind of professional pragmatism that managers tend to appreciate, and Rohl sounds like a player genuinely at ease with uncertainty. Whether that earns him a regular starting berth under Moyes, or keeps him rotating between positions as the season develops, remains to be seen. Back across Stanley Park, the player he defended will be hoping his own scrutiny eases as the campaign progresses and the goals and assists start doing the talking.