Former Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant is delighted that his old side is looking to snap up Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen, with negotiations ongoing between the clubs.
It is now almost two weeks since Liverpool made initial contact with Bayer Leverkusen for Wirtz. And while a deal is not done yet, there remains confidence that it will get over the line.
If the transfer is confirmed, it will likely be for a British record fee, eclipsing the amount that Chelsea paid for Moises Caicedo. Liverpool's existing club transfer record is Darwin Nunez, who could move on this summer amid interest from Saudi Arabia.
"If you speak to everyone about [Wirtz], everyone can only give massive praise," Pennant told talkSPORT.
"If you’re not a good player or a great player, you don’t get those kinds of praises from every single person. It’ll be a statement signing; he could be something like the Kevin De Bruyne of Liverpool."
Wirtz scored for Germany against Diogo Jota's Portugal earlier in the week. After that game, he appeared to give a nod to a reporter who had asked if he was looking forward to moving to Liverpool.
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"A big talent, who's done fantastic for Xabi Alonso at Leverkusen," Steven Gerrard told TNT Sports earlier this week. "He's got a huge future in front of him, so if Liverpool is the place for him, let's hope we can make it happen."
While it would be a big signing for Liverpool to commit to, Wirtz is already a world-class player. He scored 16 goals and assisted another 15 last season.
"The slight discomfort from me, having been a big Liverpool signing, is that Liverpool traditionally have made players," former Liverpool striker Stan Collymore, who became the record British transfer when he moved to Anfield in 1995, told Liverpool.com this week.
"People will say 'look at how much they have spent in the last 20 years', and I get it. But with players that have lots of room to develop. Don't get me wrong, Florian Wirtz has got a lot of room to develop, which in itself is a very exciting prospect, but they haven't gone down the road that Manchester United, Arsenal and Manchester City have gone down — big, blockbuster signings.
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"The last time it happened was Alberto Aquilani when there were banners on The Kop before he had even played a game. It feels a little bit like that in terms of it being 'wow'.
"This was a guy who was going to go to Bayern Munich, or if not Bayern Munich then Real Madrid or Manchester City, for example. So from a Liverpool perspective, it is kind of like saying 'we are here now and we want to maintain our position and fire a warning shot across the bows of Europe's best clubs, to attack the Champions League'.
"I hope — because Liverpool are so used to developing players and making them into superstars — that having someone coming in as a superstar, they can manage that carefully and not let it become about the cult of Florian Wirtz. I just hope that he is allowed to settle in and just be one of the lads, where there is a seamless transition on the pitch."