Florian Wirtz Liverpool
FRANKFURT, GERMANY – 22 OCTOBER, 2025: Florian Wirtz – UEFA Champions League, match SG Eintracht Frankfurt vs Liverpool FC at Deutsche Bank Park.
German agent Volker Struth has revealed he worked on taking Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz to Real Madrid last summer.
Struth, who heads Germany agency Sport 360, will turn 60 years of age on March 10th, and is one of the country’s most experienced representatives. He’s granted an interview to Phrasenmäher and Bild have relayed his comments about the Liverpool star.
The Germany international arrived at Anfield from Bayer Leverkusen for a over €100m plus bonuses, after starring under Xabi Alonso. He played a key role in Leverkusen’s title winning campaign during the 2023/24 season.
Alonso left the Bundesliga side for Real Madrid in June 2025, with his time at Los Blancos being very limited. Prior to Wirtz’s move to the Premier League side, Struth had urged Real Madrid to sign the 22-year-old.
Hans-Joachim Wirtz, the Liverpool player’s father, represents him directly. It’s unclear whether Struth had a mandate to negotiate for the attacking midfielder’s transfer last summer. However, he still asked Alonso to take Wirtz with him to Real Madrid.
“During the period when a move to Liverpool or Bayern was being discussed, I called Xabi Alonso and told him: ‘You have to take the lad from Leverkusen to Real.’ Xabi replied: ‘You don’t have to tell me that, you have to tell Florentino Pérez’,” he said.
Why La Liga giants didn’t sign Wirtz
In November, Bayer Leverkusen CEO Fernando Carro said Wirtz would have ended up at Real Madrid had they made a concrete offer.
Struth now backs that up when explaining that he tried convincing Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez to sign the current Liverpool player via a text message.
“So, I actually sent him a message. ‘Dear Florentino, I’ve told you this many times: I have a player here that I would highly recommend to you. Florian Wirtz makes every team in the world better’,” Struth explained.
Pérez reportedly referred him to Real Madrid director José Ángel Sánchez, who may have been the one to decide against it. Arne Slot’s side were then successful in securing his services.
Why Wirtz to Real Madrid may not be over
The agent isn’t giving up on taking the Reds man to Real Madrid in the future.
“That year it just wasn’t the right fit due to the squad and the budget. Even Real Madrid’s coffers aren’t always full. But my wish remains that Florian will play there one day,” he added.
Whether that was tongue in cheek or not isn’t clear, but it certainly wasn’t presented as such. For Liverpool, the safety is in having their player on a long contract. In addition, the huge amount the Reds paid means any subsequent transfer will also be extortionate.
Florian Wirtz has six goals and eight assists from 35 matches for Liverpool this season.