Lukas smiled faintly before taking another sip of water.
"There's no point letting it. They'll talk whether I score or not. But what about you? Every interview I see you do, you never smile anymore. How are you finding Liverpool so far?"
Wirtz rested his elbows on the table for a moment before answering.
"It's fun. Most of the time, anyway. But... I won't lie. The price tag... the expectations... they're massive."
Lukas nodded knowingly.
"Try not to think about the transfer fee. That money wasn't paid to you. It was paid to Leverkusen. That's how I look at mine. If the goals come, they come. If they don't, they don't. All I can do is keep playing well enough that the manager keeps picking me."
For a few seconds, Wirtz simply stared down at his plate before smiling.
"That's probably the healthiest way to think about it."
Across from them, Woltemade poked absent-mindedly at his food.
"My problem isn't even that."
Lukas looked over.
"What do you mean?"
