Florian Wirtz’s future has been the talk of the town ever since Liverpool emerged as the most likely club to acquire his services this summer.
Talks have been ongoing for some time, with more or less everything agreed upon, apart from how much extra Liverpool are going to pay in add-ons for Wirtz.
At the moment, the German midfielder is on holiday and is unlikely to have his move confirmed until next week at the earliest.
This is far from ideal for Liverpool fans who may still have a suspicion in the back of their heads that a deal might not end up happening.
Florian Wirtz of Germany celebrates scoring in the UEFA Nations League semi-final against Portugal.
Photo by Matteo Ciambelli/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images
However, seeing as though the Reds managed to fend off Manchester City and Bayern Munich to sign the Bayer Leverkusen ace, it’s hard to see how things could fall through now.
Bayern Munich chief doesn’t think they could have afforded to pay for Florian Wirtz
Wirtz’s Anfield switch is set to smash Liverpool’s transfer record with him becoming one of the Premier League’s most expensive signings of all time.
That’s a lot of pressure for a 22-year-old to take on, but Bayern Munich’s chief Max Eberl believes he’s an “outstanding” player who will thrive.
“If I’m honest, I don’t know if we could have counted on what Liverpool is apparently paying now. Florian Wirtz is an outstanding player,” he said to Sky Germany.
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“We could have easily imagined signing him. But when one door closes, another opens.” Nico Williams? “Many names. Many names.”
Liverpool need a striker to make the switch with Florian Wirtz
Even though the arrival of Wirtz is going to be a major statement of intent from Arne Slot, there are still a fair few other areas within Liverpool’s squad that need upgrading, with one of those being the Reds’ strikeforce.
Indeed, Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz were the regular features as Slot’s number nine across the campaign, but their actual strikers, Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota, left a lot to be desired.
Player Games Goals Assists
Diogo Jota 37 9 4
Darwin Nunez 47 7 7
The 2024-25 seasons of Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez in numbers.
There have been times when Jota and Nunez have shown shades of their former selves, but more often than not, this term, they’ve been poor.
Players such as Viktor Gyokeres and Hugo Ekitike have been linked with a move to Merseyside, but unless some sales are made, things will likely stop at Wirtz and Milos Kerkez.
Granted, while this would be an impressive window by Liverpool’s standards, with the amount of talent that their title rivals are adding to their ranks, Slot needs to get as many players in as possible this summer.
Otherwise, they could be left behind and may even miss out on retaining the title next term.