Florian Wirtz: Liverpool win transfer race for Germany star
Liverpool have broken their transfer record for the signing of Germany international Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen, the club announced on Friday.
ESPN previously reported the deal to be worth a total of £116 million ($156.27 million) — it includes an initial £100 million payment with £16 million in add-ons.
Wirtz has signed a five-year deal with the Premier League champions, a source told ESPN. His shirt number is expected to be announced later in the summer.
“I’m really excited to have a new adventure in front of me,” Wirtz said in a Liverpool statement. “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.
“I will see how I can perform there. I hope I can do my best. 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.”
The deal has seen Arne Slot’s side ward off stiff competition from Bayern Munich and Manchester City to land the highly rated attacker — he was ranked No. 2 on the ESPN 100 list of attacking midfielders.
Wirtz, who registered 57 goals and 65 assists in 197 appearances for Leverkusen, becomes Liverpool’s second signing of the summer following the arrival of Wirtz’s former Leverkusen teammate Jeremie Frimpong.
The 22-year-old had been expected to remain in Germany next season, either staying put at Leverkusen or joining Bundesliga rivals Bayern. However, the 22-year-old opted to join Liverpool weeks after Slot’s side lifted the Premier League title.
“I would like to win everything every year!” Wirtz said of his ambitions at Liverpool. “First of all, we have to do our work, I have to make my work.
“In the end, we want to be successful. Last season they won the Premier League so my goal is for sure to win it again and also to go further in the Champions League. I’m really ambitious.”
Wirtz is highly thought of at Anfield having demonstrated the ability to play in a variety of attacking positions for both club and country. He had been earmarked at City as a potential replacement for Kevin De Bruyne, who left on a free transfer and joined Napoli.
However, sources told ESPN that following conversations with Leverkusen and Wirtz’s representatives, City opted to walk away from the negotiating table, with a source telling ESPN that club bosses did not view the deal as financially viable.
Information from ESPN’s Rob Dawson contributed to this report.