Liverpool seal Wirtz deal for British record £116m including bonuses
LONDON: Premier League champions Liverpool have signed Germany’s Florian Wirtz from Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen by smashing their transfer record for the attacking midfielder.
Leverkusen will receive a guaranteed amount of £100m and a further maximum of £16m in potential bonuses.
That makes the 22-year-old Liverpool’s most-expensive signing ever, ahead of Netherlands centre back and captain Virgil van Dijk who joined for £75m in 2017.
Wirtz, who signed a five-year contract, also becomes the fifth 100 million pound plus signing in Premier League history, joining Chelsea midfielders Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo, Arsenal’s Declan Rice and Manchester City winger Jack Grealish.
“I feel very happy and very proud. Finally it’s done and I was waiting for a long time – finally it’s done and I am really happy,” Wirtz said in a statement.
“I’m really excited to have a new adventure in front of me. This was also a big point of my thoughts: that I want to have something completely new, to go out of the Bundesliga and to join the Premier League.”
With two years left on his Leverkusen contract, Wirtz was also heavily linked with a move to German champions Bayern Munich and Pep Guardiola’s City, who were looking to replace Kevin De Bruyne after the Belgian playmaker’s exit.
Wirtz was instrumental at Leverkusen, leading them to an undefeated domestic league and Cup double in the 2023-24 season while they went two league seasons without an away defeat.
The German scored 57 goals and provided 65 assists in 197 appearances for Leverkusen, having joined the club from Cologne in 2020. He scored 16 goals, with 15 assists, in 45 matches last season as Leverkusen finished second to Bayern.
Capped 31 times by his country since his debut in 2021, Wirtz is the only player to register 10 or more goals and assists in the last two Bundesliga seasons.
While his arrival will add to Liverpool manager Arne Slot’s midfield options, alongside Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones, Wirtz’s versatility means he can also play on the left wing or as a false nine.
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