**Liverpool will not entertain the idea of selling Florian Wirtz to Chelsea in the summer transfer window, journalist Graeme Bailey has claimed.**
It was a tough first season at Anfield for Wirtz, who arrived with a reputation as one of the best players in Europe, joining for £116m from Bayer Leverkusen.
Wirtz took time to get used to the physical demands of the Premier League, and he was always playing in a struggling side, with Arne Slot failing to get the best out of him.
Liverpool surely won’t even be thinking about selling the 23-year-old any time soon, however, and speaking to [_TEAMtalk_](https://www.teamtalk.com/liverpool/florian-wirtz-liverpool-chelsea-xabi-alonso), Bailey shut down any rumours of a Xabi Alonso reunion at Chelsea this summer:
_“Liverpool are not going to move on from Florian Wirtz, they worked so hard on that and the word from inside Anfield is the way he finished the season was a real plus point. They know he struggled to adapt at first, but they had so many new players coming in – it was never going to be easy._
_“But even if someone, like a Bayern Munich – who wanted him before, or if Xabi Alonso – who pushed for him at Chelsea, there is no way that Liverpool are letting him go, and they insist they have not heard anything from anyone.”_
**Florian Wirtz can be a Liverpool legend…if used correctly**
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Even Wirtz’s biggest admirer would find it hard to say he didn’t underwhelm at Liverpool in 2025/26, but that can happen to a big-money foreign signing, especially when the team he is playing in is toiling.
The German still bagged [seven goals and six assists](https://www.whoscored.com/players/394786/show/florian-wirtz), and showed glimpses of his class, and it is clear that he is an exceptionally talented and intelligent footballer.
It’s now a case of Slot showing that he can make Wirtz the creative hub of his team, and get him playing at the level he did for Leverkusen, and that he does for Germany, for that matter. He will likely shine at the 2026 World Cup.
He has all the technical ability, football brain and team ethic to be a future Liverpool legend, but it would be painful to watch the club fail to help him reach his potential.