Exclusive interview with former Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen striker Erik Meijer as the leading Bundesliga pundit offers the inside track on Florian Wirtz ahead of an expected club-record move to Anfield
Florian Wirtz of Bayer Leverkusen during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD4 match between Liverpool FC and Bayer 04 Leverkusen at Anfield
Florian Wirtz of Bayer Leverkusen during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD4 match between Liverpool FC and Bayer 04 Leverkusen at Anfield
(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
Should Liverpool complete a club-record deal to sign Florian Wirtz, he will become only the seventh player - following quickly in the footsteps of Jeremie Frimpong - to play for both the Reds and Bayer Leverkusen.
A deal to take the Germany international to Anfield is not yet agreed, but he has made it clear that he wishes to join Arne Slot’s side. Negotiations are ongoing with Liverpool’s latest offer for his services totalling £113m.
Supporters are understandably excited at the prospect of the Reds signing one of the hottest talents in European football - and that includes one former Liverpool and Leverkusen star who is now a leading Bundesliga pundit!
READ MORE: Liverpool make improved offer for Florian Wirtz as £113m transfer talks continueREAD MORE: Cody Gakpo responds to Bayern Munich transfer interest and Liverpool exit claims - 'Maybe my agent'
This summer marks 26 years since the first transfer between the two sides, when the Reds signed one-time Netherlands international Erik Meijer on a free transfer from the Bundesliga outfit.
The 55-year-old, who only spent a season and a half with Liverpool and scored twice from 27 appearances, has established himself as a leading pundit in Germany since hanging up his boots.
Inevitably, he has followed the fortunes of Wirtz closely at his former club. And he is convinced the German is ready to be an instant success in the Premier League.
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“Oh, I'm so excited. He will fit in directly, really! Don’t worry!” Meijer told the ECHO in an exclusive interview. “But I'm also really happy that he made a choice to go somewhere else, not to go to Bayern Munich.
“That would be the easy step. And to find out ‘how good am I in world football’, then you have to go step up and Liverpool is a big step up.
“We saw that when they met in the Champions League against each other (this season). Liverpool is a big step up for him and I'm very curious to see how good Flo is in the Premier League.
“I think he is (ready to move to the Premier League). He's not somebody who is thinking too much about which steps to take.
“I just see him more like a kid who just wants a ball, a pair of football shoes, and goes on a grass field and plays some football.
“That's the way he is, and he makes it look so very easy. Yes, it is good to take the step and also take a step to another competition.
“He is a champion of the Bundesliga, he won the cup in Germany, so then it's good to test yourself in another league.
“In my opinion, he will be a diamond in the Premier League as well.”
Bayern Munich had previously been favourites to sign Wirtz, with Liverpool initially under the impression that the playmaker would stay put in Germany.
Yet Meijer is not surprised to see Wirtz instead opt for a move to Anfield over the Bavarian giants.
“(I’m) not really (surprised that he’s chosen Liverpool),” he said. “The last couple of years we see more players who everybody thought would go to Bayern Munich, they go somewhere else.
“The magic of Munich is a little bit gone. That maybe has to do with the fact that internationally they are also not winning the last couple of years, the Champions League or whatever.
“And it's also very interesting for young players to go abroad. It's another competition, it's another culture and I think also an important thing is the payment. The payment will be very good in England.”
Leverkusen have placed an £126m asking-price on Wirtz’s head, while Liverpool’s latest offer £113m is already a club-record bid.
Meijer acknowledges it is a massive transfer fee, but points out that is what it takes to sign special talents - even if it remains to be seen how well Wirtz could actually adapt to the physical nature of the Premier League.
“That's a ridiculous amount of money, but he's the biggest prospect in the Bundesliga,” he said. “Musiala and Wirtz are the two diamonds in the Bundesliga.
“He's young, he's good, he has skills that nobody else has and he played some fantastic seasons at Leverkusen at a young age.
“I'm curious about his abilities to get used to the tempo and alertness and the hardness of the Premier League.
“In the Bundesliga he knows every stadium, he knows his opponents, he knows his weaknesses and his strengths and now he comes in another competition with better defenders, with harder defenders, with players maybe also with more experience.
“I'm curious to see how he reacts to this. He is on a special level, that's why it is also a very special price that somebody has to pay to get him.”
There has also been debate about where Wirtz is likely to play at Liverpool, whether he’d be stationed as a number 10 in place of Dominik Szoboszlai or could instead play off the left or as a false nine.
Meijer insists Wirtz has to play as a number 10 behind a striker, and points to the player’s defensive work-rate when sharing his belief that the German is ‘perfect’ for Liverpool.
“He has a freer role at Leverkusen, he's the 10, but he can also play from the left side,” he said. “He loves to come from the left side and then go inside.
“But I think his best position will be when he's free to play behind a striker, that's a strong man in front.
“I'm curious who will be that one next year. Or that (Arne) Slot is going to change the system a little bit and play with two in the front and then with Wirtz short behind those two.
“He was very effective and very good with (Patrik) Schick as a striker or (Victor) Boniface as a striker. So he always had somebody to go to.
“So he plays the ball, gets it back and there's an action reaction of the opponent. And that made him very strong.
“That made his amount of assists and also his goals that he made. He needed that striker in front. I'm curious how Liverpool is going to do this.”
He continued: “He has unbelievable dribbling, his one against one, he's very clever running between the lines and he can give the split pass to the striker or to somebody in front who he can put in on a one on one with the goalkeeper, that's his abilities.
“He also is the one who can take a free kick. And he's always on the move. It's not only his offensive work, but defensively under (Xabi) Alonso, he was willing to work unbelievable.
“He had a very high work-rate and he mostly ran the most kilometres of all the players on the pitch. He’d be perfect for Liverpool.”
Liverpool are expected to still be in the market for a new centre-forward after signing Wirtz, with current club-record signing Darwin Nunez tipped to move on.
The Reds have been linked with Eintracht Frankfurt striker Hugo Ekitike. While the 22-year-old - who scored 22 goals this season - is still raw, Meijer believes he could be a good fit alongside Wirtz at Liverpool.
“Yeah, Ekitike has a very good season. Last season was already good, he was on a loan,” he said. “And now he is on a contract in Frankfurt, phwoar, he played a very good season!
“He has abilities that also would fit in at Liverpool. Speed, technically he's really on a high, high level. The only thing he doesn't have is a lot of experience.
“The last one and a half years he played all the matches at Frankfurt, so his level went up step by step and he was the main goalscorer at Frankfurt after Marmoush left to Manchester City.
“Everybody thought, oh, now Frankfurt is going to have problems, but Ekitike got better and better. He's on a very good level.
“He has the abilities that fit into the team very well and fit into the system that Slot wants to play.
“He needs players who are technically brilliant, who have speed and who are tactically on a very high level to know where the spaces are. He plays that way.”