Florian Wirtz of Liverpool during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD4 match between Liverpool FC and Real Madrid C.F. at Anfield on November 04, 2025 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)placeholder image
Florian Wirtz of Liverpool during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD4 match between Liverpool FC and Real Madrid C.F. at Anfield on November 04, 2025 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Liverpool purchased Florian Wirtz for a fee of £100 million in the summer transfer window.
Florian Wirtz is ‘perfectly happy’ how he has started life as a Liverpool player - according to his father.
The Reds splashed out £100 million to purchase the attacking midfielder in the summer transfer window. Wirtz is regarded as one of the most exciting talents in Europe and enjoyed five-and-a-half sensational seasons at Bayer Leverkusen.
He recorded a total of 57 goals and 63 assists in 197 appearances and played a pivotal role when Die Werkself claimed their maiden Bundesliga title in the 2023-24 season along with the DFB-Pokal.
However, Wirtz has had somewhat of a slow start to his Liverpool career. He's yet to score in 15 appearances in all competitions, but created four goals in total.
His early performances have come in for scrutiny from sections of the media, while Wirtz has not started three of Liverpool's past four Premier League games.
What’s been said
But the 22-year-old's father, Hans, insists that there are no concerns. “My thought from the very beginning was to wait and see how the first ten league games went,” he told German outlet Bolzplaz (via BILD). “We and Florian are perfectly happy with that.
"The incredible speed, the back and forth. That was very impressive for the first few games. The distances covered and the speed were significantly greater (than in the Bundesliga. But the style of play is sometimes enormously different because it doesn't seem as organised, but rather more focused on pace.
"I think the league table clearly shows that there's still room for improvement in this football machine. But the mechanics will sort that out. I hope he's such a good player that he can adapt to the demands there and that he enjoys it just as much as he did in the Bundesliga."
Why Wirtz chose Liverpool over Bayern
Wirtz's decision to join Liverpool came as somewhat as a surprise in his homeland. The former Cologne playmaker had long been expected to join German powerhouses Bayern Munich, while Manchester City were also said to be in the reckoning.
However, the Reds entered the race for Wirtz and were successful. And Wirtz Snr revealed that talks with Liverpool head coach Arne Slot were key to him picking a switch to Anfield over the Allianz Arena.
"It was exciting for him to join a team that had certainly grown and had added one or two new players besides himself,” he added. And all of them were of a corresponding quality. All of that was quite exciting for him.
"It was important that Arne Slot spoke with Florian and explained his value to him, also his value to the future team and how he envisions the collaboration. And that convinced Florian."
Speaking on Bayern’s failure to sign Wirtz, director of sport Max Eberl said last summer: “We very much could’ve imagined him coming to Bayern, but he’s now opted for somewhere else. That’s how it is in the transfer market. You’re annoyed in one moment, but as one door closes, another opens,”
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