The golden boy of German football is set to become the new prince of the Premier League after Florian Wirtz joined Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen for a club-record fee.
Fresh from winning a 20th English top-flight title, Arne Slot’s Reds have broken the bank to land a rising star already labelled as one of the world’s best by former Reds midfielder and Wirtz’s former coach Xabi Alonso.
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British media reported on Friday that the Premier League champions had agreed a deal worth up to £116 million ($157 million) to secure the services of the attacking midfielder.
German reports claim the fee is even higher, starting at 130 million euros (£111 million, $149 million) with add-ons taking it to 150 million euros.
Wirtz’s abundant potential as a teenager sparked a row between his hometown club Cologne and Leverkusen five years ago when Leverkusen, who are backed by pharmaceutical giants Bayer, swooped to sign him at 17.
Cologne argued that a gentleman’s agreement not to poach youth team players had been violated, but Leverkusen said Wirtz was a first-team signing and within months he had made his Bundesliga debut.
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His rise was interrupted by a cruciate knee ligament injury in March 2022 that forced him to miss the next 10 months.
By the time he returned, Alonso had been installed as Leverkusen boss and together they would spearhead the club’s greatest days.
Leverkusen ended Bayern Munich’s dominance of the Bundesliga in stunning fashion, romping to the title and the German Cup without losing a single match in the 2023/24 season.
Wirtz netted his first career hat-trick on the day the title was sealed against Werder Bremen, on his way to being crowned Bundesliga player of the year.
“Flo is one of the top players in the world, he’s world class,” said Real Madrid coach Alonso, who compared his protege to Lionel Messi in terms of his understanding of the game.
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“Why is Messi so good? Because he knows how and when to play simple passes. Messi says: ‘You’re in a better position? Here, there you have the ball’,” added Alonso, a hero of Liverpool’s 2005 Champions League triumph.
“It’s not always about making the most brilliant move, but the best and smartest. Florian can do that. That’s why he’s so good.”
– ‘Perfect for me’ –
Both star player and coach committed to staying with the Leverkusen project for another 12 months, but defeat in the Europa League final to Atalanta to round off the 2023/24 campaign was a sign of things to come.
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Bayern restored their grip on the German game last season but could not convince Wirtz to follow the lead of many others in joining from their Bundesliga rivals.
Instead, he made it clear his preference was a move to the Premier League champions and the chance to add his name to Liverpool’s cast of legends.
“I’m really excited to have a new adventure in front of me. This was also a big point of my thoughts: that I want to have something completely new, to go out of the Bundesliga and to join the Premier League,” said Wirtz.
“I spoke also with some players who played there and they told me that it’s perfect for me and every pitch is perfect, you can enjoy every game. I’m really looking forward to playing my first game.”
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Despite 57 goals and 65 assists in 197 games for Leverkusen, Wirtz will begin life at Anfield in the shadow of Mohamed Salah.
But the Reds are banking on Wirtz’s creativity to help maintain the 32-year-old’s prolific goalscoring numbers and ease the burden of carrying the Liverpool attack.
The club’s previous record signing, £85 million recruit Darwin Nunez, has failed to deliver and could be sold to help recoup some of their major outlay on new faces.
Liverpool will hope Wirtz can handle the pressure of his price tag and the physicality of the Premier League to ensure there is no second season slump under Slot.
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