An emotional Florian Wirtz looked on the verge of tears as he received a number of supportive messages from friends and family ahead of Saturday's clash between Liverpool and Chelsea.
The Germany international has yet to live up to his hefty £116 million price tag following a much-anticipated summer move from Bayer Leverkusen.
Wirtz, who is still searching for his first goal and assist in the Premier League after six games, has been criticised by several pundits of late, including former Reds defender Jamie Carragher.
“He’s just not at the races at all," Carragher told CBS Sports on Tuesday following Liverpool's defeat to Galatasaray.
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"He’s a young boy coming to a new league, and he has plenty of time to go as a Liverpool player. But right now I think he needs to come out of the team, and Liverpool need to get back to what they were last season and try and build some confidence.”
After a lacklustre display in the Champions League, Wirtz will be hoping to make a greater impact on Saturday afternoon as Arne Slot's side come up against Chelsea.
If he manages to produce the goods at Stamford Bridge, then Sky Sports may be taking some credit after they created a touching feature on the German featuring messages from loved ones.
As seen in the footage below, Wirtz's parents took part in the segment alongside his oldest childhood friend, Ole Verhall, and former FC Koln youth coach Markus Daun, amongst others.
He admitted to feeling emotional during the video. "It's special and will always be special when you hear so many great things about yourself from people who you admire and respect so much and share so many good moments with them," he said.
"It's good to hear. You feel directly that your heart is working, it's nice to hear. Yeah, (I felt emotional). Especially in the end for the personal messages."
Wirtz's father, Hans, opened up on his son's move.
"I can only wish and hope that he works well there, tries hard to learn a lot, and further strengthens the joy among the people there and has a good dialogue with team-mates, the people and the fans in Liverpool," he said.
Wirtz's mum, Karin, added: "I know it's sometimes difficult for him to understand the English language at the speed it's spoken, so my wish for him is that he soon understands everyone he speaks to well and always has the appropriate answer ready."
As mentioned above, FC Koln youth coach Markus Daun also took part in the 'journey so far' video as he backed Wirtz to succeed.
"I want to give you big hugs to Liverpool. I wish you the maximum of success in your career in Liverpool," he beamed. "I will be there, hopefully in the next few weeks. The boss always remains the same, you know that. Take care and regards to everyone."
Martin Heck, another former youth coach, would later give some kind-hearted instructions to Wirtz. "Please stay healthy, stay as you are. You're doing a great job and keep your smiling and your cheeky way on the pitch, and no one can stop you."
And finally, another important figure in the midfielder's journey, Simon Rolfes, who is Bayer Leverkusen's managing director of sport, repeated those words of encouragement from Heck.
"Florian, stay as you are, with this joy to play football every day, with this hunger to win, this hunger to work hard as well and play how you express yourself on the pitch," he said. "That's a great joy for everybody."
Topics: Florian Wirtz, Liverpool, Chelsea, Premier League, Arne Slot, Germany, Bundesliga, Bayer Leverkusen
Jack Kenmare