2 months ago
14 Florian Wirtz is seemingly destined to take the next step of his footballing career in the summer of 2025 having made such ambitions ‘very clear’.
Christian Falk now notes that the highly-rated German international won’t go cheaply, however, should he be sold next year. It will take a seismic fee – £100.7m [€120m] to be exact – in order to mount an attempt at luring the 21-year-old away from Bayer Leverkusen next year.
As far as potential destinations are concerned, Real Madrid remain the likeliest option at this point in time. However, interest from Premier League clubs, like Liverpool, can’t be absolutely discounted.
“Florian Wirtz made it very clear that he wants to make the next step in 2025,” the BILD reporter wrote for The Daily Briefing.
“He has a contract now until 2027, so Leverkusen want a big fee for his services – €120m. That’s a lot and obviously not every club can afford to pay this.
“The club leading the race for his signature is not an English one. It’s Real Madrid. This could form part of a package deal including Bayer Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso, should the Spaniard be identified as Carlo Ancelotti’s potential successor next summer. It’s really good for Wirtz as he knows the coach and that he’d be well taken care of in Madrid.
“There’s still a little chance for Bayern Munich who have always been in contact with the player and his father, Hans-Joachim, who is also his agent. There’s a big dream for Wirtz and Jamal Musiala to play together at Bayern. I don’t think Real Madrid would be able to buy both players, whilst Bayern can only sign one.
“But, of course, he also fits other clubs like Manchester City. Liverpool are also interested and we talked about Manchester United not being in the race at the moment.”
The attacking midfielder has already amassed four goal contributions in five games (across all competitions) in 2024/25.
Could Liverpool afford Florian Wirtz’s £100m asking price?
Florian Wirtz is attracting serious interest across Europe – (Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)The Merseysiders aren’t averse to committing large sums to key targets when the occasion calls for it. £75m and £85m respectively splashed out on Virgil van Dijk and Darwin Nunez would certainly indicate as much.
However, it’s far from being a frequent occurrence and, as a failed late bid for Moises Caicedo proves, simply having the cash available doesn’t guarantee success in a bidding war.
Still, Liverpool can’t exactly win the lottery without buying a ticket, and one might argue that they’re certainly capable of at least entering the draw.
Since missing out on Chelsea’s Ecuadorian international, the recruitment department has hardly emptied the vault. The Reds went on to land Ryan Gravenberch and Wataru Endo for a combined £50.4m in 2023. The summer of 2024 was more reserved, with Giorgi Mamardashvili and Federico Chiesa secured for upfront fees totalling £35m.
Technically speaking, Arne Slot’s outfit appears yet to have spent the “Caicedo money”.
Do Liverpool need to spend big in other areas?
There’s an argument to be made that a big outlay should justifiably be spent on a new centre-back or a potential successor to Mo Salah (depending on the Egyptian’s contract situation).
However, Richard Hughes has already made clear that the potential title-challengers are prepared to be opportunistic in the market.
How many opportunities are more tantalising than the prospect of signing one of Europe’s most highly-coveted attacking midfielders?
In other news, Liverpool’s Salah is allegedly understood to be close to agreeing an exit from the club amid interest from Saudi Arabia.
