Liverpool are gearing up for the biggest spending summer in their history as the transfer window re-opens to pave the way for Florian Wirtz to join
Liverpool players during the Liverpool Premier League Champions parade on May 26, 2025 in Liverpool, England
(Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
As Liverpool's open-top bus reached the city centre's Strand at around 5.30pm three weeks ago, neatly positioned along their journey was a billboard phrase that sounded more like a demand than it did a marketing slogan.
The advertisement, by club sponsors Standard Chartered, informed onlookers there to cheer on the champions that "you don't win by standing still". It's a mantra that Liverpool have seemingly taken to heart as the transfer window re-opens.
Barely 24 hours earlier, chairman Tom Werner had stood in front of reporters after seeing the squad lift the Premier League title and did not shy away from claims that a major summer was quickly hurtling down the line for owners Fenway Sports Group and the club they have owned since October 2010.
READ MORE: Liverpool to step up transfer business with Florian Wirtz completion and next targets clearREAD MORE: Why Liverpool's next big transfer could hinge on Darwin Nunez's future
“We go again," said Werner. "It never gets old, winning. We owe it to all of our supporters to bring back a team even better next season. It's already [a] busy [summer]. It's extraordinary.
"We obviously had high hopes for this season but Arne has been an extraordinary coach. I think there have been three coaches who have won the Premier League in their first season and Arne is one of them. He is just an extraordinary leader."
Having triggered Jeremie Frimpong's £29m release clause to officially land the Netherlands star from Bayer Leverkusen at the beginning of the month, the Premier League winners are doing anything but 'standing still' as they close in on a club-record deal for Florian Wirtz at £116m.
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After around three weeks of detailed and intense negotiations, it was confirmed on Friday that an agreement had been struck between the clubs, paving the way for Germany international Wirtz to join after undergoing the formalities of his medical.
Those examinations will be performed this week before the 22-year-old returns to his summer holidays and personal terms won't be an issue.
There had been some debate about a potential six-year deal given the scale of the outlay at an initial £100m with a further £16m in add-ons, which would allow Liverpool to spread the cost of the fee across an additional year. It's been reported, however, that Wirtz will sign on for the next five seasons to begin with.
A major bonus for Liverpool this summer is the lack of an international tournament means Slot will have a full complement to work with then they return to pre-season training on July 7. Wirtz and Frimpong will both be part of that contingent, meaning the head coach can get his detailed tactical plans across earlier and smoother than last summer, when the majority of his key men only returned a week or so before the curtain raiser at Ipswich Town.
The effects of the Club World Cup, currently being held in the United States, is also unknown at this stage. Premier League rivals Manchester City and Chelsea are both part of the action Stateside, while potential Champions League adversaries like Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and current holder Paris Saint-Germain are also involved in the FIFA-mandated tournament.
How much of an impact the revamped and new-look Club World Cup has on results for those involved next season will be debated at length whenever there is a stumble and Liverpool may yet benefit from what is a gruelling, near-12-month long calendar of competitive action for the likes of Chelsea and more notably title rivals City.
Wirtz is a statement signing if there ever was one at Anfield and the deal to sign a player who is fresh off being named the Bundesliga player of the year has been met with widespread applause for those who engineered the deal to this point, most notably sporting director Richard Hughes, whose exhaustive talks with his Leverkusen counterpart have struck on a deal that could see Wirtz become a British record transfer.
For that to be achieved, it's been stressed that Wirtz will have to have been a major success at Anfield but there is a confidence behind the scenes that the attacking midfielder can be as transformative as the two deals the Reds struck to land £75m Virgil van Dijk and £65m Alisson Becker in 2018.
Liverpool, unlike some of their major rivals, are unable or unwilling to absorb the cost of big-money mistakes in the transfer window and their painstaking and comprehensive approach to recruitment across much of the last 10 years is why there club have made very few deals that would be termed 'flops' in that time.
Even for players like the injury-ravaged Naby Keita, at £52m - who won every top-level trophy with the Reds - and £85m Darwin Nunez, who has lifted two trophies including the Premier League in three years at Anfield, there can be caveats and debates around how much their transfers can be considered missteps.
Compared to the spendthrift policies at Chelsea and Manchester United, for example, Liverpool's big-money recruitment drives have been impeccable since 2015 and the talent, age and ceiling for the gifted Wirtz has left everyone at Anfield convinced his history-making deal will be money well spent.
"If I was making that list (of the best attacking midfielders in Europe) now I'd have Florian Wirtz above Jamal Musiala," says Bundesliga expert Ed McCambridge. "I have watched both extensively in the Bundesliga and I can't speak any higher about Wirtz, he is an amazing player.
"Across the last two seasons in the Bundesliga, he has been the best player and I would include Harry Kane in there with that also. He's had double figures for assists and goals in the last two years.
"Leverkusen had this reputation as chokers prior to last season (23/24) with the 'Neverkusen' tag used as a stick to beat them with but Wirtz scored a hat-trick in a game when they beat Werder Bremen and he scored an early goal in that game. It was just like he wasn't waiting around for someone to conjure something, he took charge and wanted to get it over the line."
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It's unclear at this stage where and when Wirtz's medical will take place this week but with the period of player trading now upon us once more, the stars are aligning to make him the second signing of a window that, by the time it closes on September 1, will be the most expensive of all time at Anfield.
Next on the shopping list is Milos Kerkez, of Bournemouth, who the Reds have been in discussions about for a number of weeks now. The Cherries value their Hungary left-back at £45m and talks remain ongoing for the 21-year-old, while a new No.9 could also form part of the thinking once attention turns to sales.
The first game of the champions' pre-season may still be the best part of a month away but there is major work to do for Hughes and his recruitment department. After all, you don't win by standing still.