Florian Wirtz Liverpool Premier League
(Credit: Hasan Karim, Breaking Media/Getty Images)
Pete O'Rourke, Transfer Correspondent
Sun 6 July 2025 15:51, UK
Liverpool’s record-breaking transfer for Florian Wirtz has put their Premier League rivals on notice to do the same, sources have told Football Insider.
Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, senior correspondent Pete O’Rourke revealed what his sources have said about the aftermath of Liverpool‘s new record transfer.
Liverpool spent an initial £100million to sign Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen with £16.5m in add-ons also on the way, with the latter taking the overall fee above the £115m Chelsea paid Brighton for Moises Caicedo.
Football finance expert Dan Plumley exclusively told Football Insider on 12 June that Liverpool’s revenue of £559m gave them the financial capability to complete Wirtz’s transfer, amid an outlay of over £200m.
However, sources have now told Football Insider that Premier League clubs are ready to close the gap on the Reds by completing record transfers of their own, with plenty of money to spend this summer.
Liverpool manager Arne Slot
Arne Slot and Liverpool have already strengthened this summer (Credit: Hasan Karim, Breaking Media)
Liverpool lead the way in Premier League spending spree
Manchester City have already shelled out roughly £115m on Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Tijjani Reijnders this summer, but it’s unlikely they’ll go higher than the £100m spent on Jack Grealish in 2021.
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Sunderland are the only other club to break their transfer record so far this summer, and the £30m arrival of Habib Diarra from Strasbourg has left Black Cats fans confident that they will stay up this season.
Speaking on the new Inside Track, O’Rourke was asked about the prospect of other Premier League big-hitters following Liverpool and Sunderland’s lead and breaking their own transfer records this summer.
“You would never rule that out – these elite clubs can go out and spend big money”, he told Football Insider.
“So if the right player is there, Premier League clubs have got the finances to go out and sign these players.
“Wirtz was a big, big signing, and I would expect that there’s still other potentially big, £100million signings [to come] between now and the end of the window in late August.
“The Premier League clubs, the likes of Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal, will be looking to improve their squads, and they’ve got the finances and the firepower to go out and spend big money.”
Habib Diarra Leeds
Sunderland beat Leeds United to the signing of Habib Diarra (Credit: Hasan Karim, Breaking Media)
Premier League clubs will struggle to keep up with Liverpool
Wirtz‘s arrival at Anfield is far from the only headline signing made by Liverpool this summer, with Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong giving Arne Slot a brand-new pair of starting full-backs next season.
Tottenham could yet join Liverpool and Sunderland in breaking their transfer record if they pay Eberechi Eze’s entire £68m release clause at Crystal Palace, with huge moves abound across the Premier League.
Both the champions and Championship play-off final winners have shown real intent this summer, and the onus is now on the other 18 clubs to strengthen accordingly ahead of what could be an uber-competitive Premier League season.
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