Liverpool are set for an extremely busy summer transfer window, with moves already being made for a handful of players.
The Reds were one of the most dominant teams in the Premier League last season, with Arne Slot managing to bring the top-flight title home at the first time of asking.
Jeremie Frimpong is the first player that Slot has brought in, and seeing as though they got a hefty fee for the early transfer of Trent Alexander-Arnold, the vast majority of the fee was covered by the Englishman’s departure.
Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images/Getty Images For The Premier League
Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images/Getty Images For The Premier League
Although it’s still early days in the window with more or less anything on the cards, there’s one transfer in particular that has left Gary Neville somewhat taken aback.
Gary Neville believes Florian Wirtz would be a ‘sensational’ signing for Liverpool
Florian Wirtz choosing Liverpool as his favoured destination this summer has probably felt like the Reds’ fans were in a bit of a fever dream.
The number 10 is one of the best in the world in his position, and, at the start of the summer, he was one of the hottest prospects in football with the likes of Bayern Munich and Manchester City vying for his transfer.
Speaking on the It’s Called Soccer Podcast, Neville gave his thoughts on the move.
“Yeah, Liverpool I think won the league four or five weeks ago, so they could start having their recruitment meetings very early,” he said.
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“I know all clubs do, but to involve your manager while she’s going for Premier League titles is quite tough, so once they’ve won the Premier League title, they can just be so focused and start to involve him more heavily. Wirtz would be a sensational signing.
“I think when you’re talking about winning the league, what is it that improves you? I mean, the only thing that’s going to improve you when you win the league is signing world-class players or players that have got the potential to be world-class players. So signing Wirtz is fantastic.
“Frimpong and then there’s talk of Kerkez as well, deals with their right and left back situations. So to get those three done, if they were to get those three done quite quickly would be smart business. But I wouldn’t have expected anything else from Liverpool.
“Maybe slightly surprised that they’ve gone so heavy in on Wirtz in terms of the fee. They don’t normally go that big, but Slot deserves it, by the way. He waited 12 months for a player to sign.”
Liverpool would be even more dominant with Florian Wirtz
Indeed, a new number 10 wasn’t all that high on Liverpool’s priority list this summer, but when a player of Wirtz’s quality becomes available, Liverpool would be stupid to turn their nose up at making a move.
Dominik Szoboszlai was the Anfield outfit’s main creative midfielder last season, with the Hungary international putting in a more than solid shift across the campaign.
However, with Wirtz now more than likely to come in, much like he did at the end of the 2024-25 campaign against Brighton, it feels like Slot will play him in a deeper role to allow the German to thrive.
Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images
Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images
Wirtz had one of the best seasons of his career last term, with the 22-year-old contributing to 23 Bundesliga goals across the campaign.
Indeed, only time will tell whether a move actually ends up working out, but with the way things have progressed over the last few days, it feels like the German could be making the switch to Anfield sooner rather than later.