Former Germany defender Jonas Hector wanted to see Florian Wirtz stay in the Bundesliga instead of signing for Liverpool
Florian Wirtz
Florian Wirtz
Former Germany defender Jonas Hector admits he would have preferred to have seen his compatriot Florian Wirtz reject Liverpool and sign for Bayern Munich. Wirtz completed a £116m transfer from Bayer Leverkusen to Anfield last week after the Reds beat Bayern and Manchester City to his signature.
Bundesliga champions Bayern had previously been considered frontrunners for his signing, but Wirtz was persuaded by the pitch from Reds boss Arne Slot and sporting director Richard Hughes, and chose Anfield as his next destination.
And Hector, who was linked with Liverpool during his playing days with FC Koln, believes Germany's national team would have benefitted from Wirtz remaining in his homeland.
He said: "I would have liked it if he had played for Bayern.
"Especially in terms of prospects for the national team and for next year. Because there, if you have a decent block, you can get into the swing of things even better. That's why I would have liked to see it."
"Ultimately, it's certainly also about money. And a club like Liverpool is quite well positioned in that regard."
Speaking after his move to Liverpool was made official, Wirtz confirmed that Slot and Hughes convinced him that Merseyside was the best place for him to continue his development.
“I feel very happy and very proud,” he told the club. “Finally it’s done and I was waiting for a long time – finally it’s done and I am really happy.
“I saw on Instagram and everywhere else that they (the fans) are wanting me to come so thank you for the support. I am really looking forward to playing in front of them and achieve big things together. I’m really happy to come. And sorry for the long wait!
“But I think the talks with the coach (Slot), Richard (Hughes) and everybody from the start, from the very first time, was so good and it kept going like this.
“All the time I spoke to one of the club, I felt like this is a place I want to be. In the end I was really 100% convinced that I want to join Liverpool. I saw it as the best choice."
He continued: “I think I was the first one in my family who is really into this club. When they spoke to us, told us that they were interested in signing me, I didn’t expect that Liverpool would be my next club.
"But my family was supporting me and I didn’t have to convince them about the club. Everything was so good.
“I wanted to join a different league. In the end, my family will love to come here and spend time with me here in the stadium. They will like it here as well. I'm really looking forward to play in the stadium in front of the fans. It will be exciting.
“I see this also as an opportunity for me to get better in this point. So yeah, I just thought this was the right place for me.”