Liverpool have completed the signing of German superstar Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen for a British record fee of £116million.
Mail Sport reported last week that an agreement had been reached by the Premier League champions and Leverkusen for the attacking midfielder.
The clubs agreed a base £100m fee for Wirtz, which could rise to £116m depending on bonuses including winning the Premier League and Champions League.
Wirtz went on holiday following international duty with Germany, but has since completed a medical to seal his move to Liverpool.
The deal, which looks set to be the most high-profile of the summer, represents a major coup for Liverpool.
Wirtz had snubbed interest from Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Real Madrid in favour of joining Arne Slot’s side this summer.
Mail Sport
reported on Thursday.
They
have already bought Wirtz’ Leverkusen team-mate Jeremie Frimpong for £29.5m and spent £29m on Valencia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili.
Sporting
director Richard Hughes led discussions with Leverkusen and Arne Slot sold Wirtz a vision of playing as an attacking midfielder. It is believed that in games when Liverpool are dominating, they foresee Wirtz floating all over the attack.
Liverpool have signed Florian Wirtz in £116m British record transfer from Bayer Leverkusen
The German international underwent his Liverpool medical after returning from holiday
The signing of Wirtz represents a major coup for Arne Slot’s Premier League champions
The 22-year-old has already viewed houses in the Cheshire area after opting for a move to Anfield.
The fee to secure Wirtz vastly eclipses previous big-money signings made by Liverpool.
The Reds paid an initial £64m to sign Darwin Nunez in 2022, rising to a then potential club record of £85m with adds on.
Liverpool already have the world’s most second most expensive goalkeeper and defender having paid £67m for Alisson Becker and £75m for Virgil van Dijk respectively.
The club view the signing of Wirtz on par with those two deals as they see the German as as one of the gems of European football.
Slot has outlined a vision to Wirtz of playing in the No 10 role but Liverpool acknowledge he is a versatile player who can play out wide, deeper in midfield and as a striker if needed.
Wirtz had played a crucial role in Bayer Leverkusen’s domestic double in the 2023-24 season, a campaign which also saw the German side finish as Europa League runners-up.
The attacking midfielder was named as the Bundesliga Player of the Season as Leverkusen finished the Bundesliga season unbeaten to claim their first domestic title, as well as winning the German Cup.
Liverpool view the deal similarly to big-money deals for Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker
Arne Slot, it is understood, sees him as a No 10 but he can operate in various different roles
In the 2023-24 season, Wirtz (centre) was the star man as Leverkusen went unbeaten to win an against-the-odds Bundesliga title and German Cup
Wirtz joins Jeremie Frimpong in swapping Leverkusen for Liverpool this summer
Wirtz contributed 18 goals and 20 assists in 49 matches for Xabi Alonso’s side that season, while last campaign saw him score 16 times and lay on 15 goals in 45 games.
The 22-year-old has made 31 appearances for Germany to date and scored seven times.
He becomes Liverpool’s third signing of the summer after the £29m arrival of right back Jeremie Frimpong, also from Leverkusen, and the arrival of Valencia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili for the same price.
Liverpool are also in direct and official contact with Bournemouth over signing left back Milos Kerkez with the Cherries wanting about £45m. The Reds hope to negotiate that down slightly but it will take their summer spending to north of £200m.
They will have to balance the books with sales but their summer business may continue after with them still having designs on a No 9 and defender.
