Florian Wirtz has been a hot transfer topic for Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen
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Xabi Alonso, Head coach and Florian Wirtz of Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Xabi Alonso and Florian Wirtz(Image: Oliver Hardt/Getty Images)
Liverpool are already moving their pawns into position for what is shaping up to be a decisive summer transfer window which opens in two weeks time. The Reds have been linked with a move for Germany international Florian Wirtz, who appears to be ath the centre of three-way battle worth a reported £125m.
The ECHO understand Wirtz, a player who has been admired for a long time, and his representatives have been contacted by the Reds to inform him of their interest before he decides first whether to leave Bayer Leverkusen. It's being widely reported that he will stay in Germany with Bayern Munich keen to land the playmaker, yet Premier League giants Manchester City are also applying pressure to the situation too.
With the transfer saga bursting into life this week, here is what Liverpool and their rivals have had to say about Wirtz...
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Arne Slot
The Liverpool head coach sat down with the media on Friday afternoon and naturally, the topic of transfers was addressed early on.
But it was done so in the context of another Leverkusen star, the wing-back Jeremie Frimpong, of whom the ECHO understand has a release clause in the region of £30m and this is expected to be activated by the Reds.
Speaking about potential summer signings, Slot replied: "A boring answer and for a whole season it was about contract extensions and now everyone wants to know who is coming in. We don't talk about it in public until we sign them and then you can ask me all about it."
Max Eberl
The Bayern Munich sporting director spoke alongside head coach Vincent Kompany on Friday morning. He said: "If Florian Wirtz and his family made this trip, they'll have their reasons. It's not our place to comment on that.
"Florian Wirtz is free to visit Liverpool, Manchester, Madrid or whatever with his family and friends. There's a lot of speculation in Munich, and everyone has their own opinion. Of course, that doesn't make things easy.
"With the Club World Cup, this summer is obviously special. I try to ignore it as much as possible. We have to ignore the speculation so we can conduct our business calmly. That's what we did with the contract extensions and we want to do the same with transfers."
Pep Guardiola, Man City manager
The Man City manager spoke to the press on Friday afternoon before his side play Crystal Palace in this season's FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium.
Refusing to be drawn into discussion upon mention of Wirtz's name, he commented: "Now's not the time to talk about that.
"Before the FA Cup final I have 24 fantastic players. I'm not going to talk one second about the the future."
Xabi Alonso
The former Reds midfielder and outgoing Leverkusen boss Alonso first praised Wirtz, saying: "Flo, he is now one of the top players in the world. World class."
He added: "Flo has a very mature mind. The people around him, his parents, they want the best for him. They are in a very important moment of his career.
"Whatever he does I am really close to Flo and I will be happy for him. Let’s wait a little bit. It’s normal in football that there are rumours and he is such a special player.
"There were rumours, there are rumours today and there will be rumours in the future. You need to deal with them, not to take them too serious."