6 hours ago
12
Liverpool have signed Germany playmaker Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen for a club record £116m.
The 22-year-old has signed a long-term deal with the Reds, understood to be five years which will keep him at Anfield until at least 2030, after completing a medical at the club's training ground on Friday.
The deal, which includes a guaranteed £100m and a further £16m in add-ons, tops Liverpool's previous club record signing of Virgil van Dijk for £75m in 2018.
Should those add-ons be achieved, Wirtz's move to Anfield would become a British transfer record to beat the £107m Chelsea paid Benfica for Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez in 2023.
Wirtz, who has scored 57 goals in 197 Leverkusen appearances, is Liverpool's second major signing of the summer and the club's second from the Bundesliga runners-up following the arrival of Dutch right-back Jeremie Frimpong for £29.5m last month.
Wirtz, whose shirt number will be announced later in the summer, said he wants to win "everything every year" at Anfield,
"Last season they won the Premier League so my goal is for sure to win it again and also to go further in the Champions League. I'm really ambitious," he said.
"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.
"I will see how I can perform there. I hope I can do my best.
"I spoke also with some players who played there and they told me that it's perfect for me and every pitch is perfect, you can enjoy every game. I'm really looking forward to playing my first game."
Wirtz made his top-flight debut aged 17 for Bayer Leverkusen in May 2020 and just 19 days later he became the then-youngest goalscorer in Bundesliga history against the might of Bayern Munich - a club who were also in contention for his signature this summer.
In addition to his goalscoring efforts, Wirtz has provided 44 assists in the Bundesliga since he made his debut.
That ranks him third of all players over that time but everyone else in the top five is aged 29 or older, which indicates the high ceiling for Wirtz's development.
A dynamic playmaker blessed with pace, awareness and the ability to make clever decisions at high speed he was one of the Bundesliga's top performers operating as a number 10.
He was also the most effective dribbler of all players in the German top flight last season, both in terms of volume and accuracy while carrying the ball.
A total of 23 of his 31 Bundesliga appearances in 2024-25 came in an attacking midfield/number 10 berth, although he does tend to drift towards the left wing.
German football expert Raphael Honigstein told BBC Radio 5 Live that Wirtz is "more or less the fully-formed article" and Liverpool are "buying a superstar" who will "bring a lot of class and poise".
"He has played for Leverkusen and Germany so knows the demands that are on him, but still, he will have to adjust to the pace of the Premier League and the more physical way," Honigstein said.
"Opponents will try to negate his influence and that might prove a challenge, but he is young enough and good enough. He is not easily intimidated and stands up strong to the challenge."
The youngest player to reach 50 Bundesliga appearances at 18 years and seven months, he was the face of a fearless and dynamic Leverkusen side.
He is also an influential dressing room figure despite his age.
"Even early in his Bundesliga career, he carried himself like a leader. He's not the loudest voice in the room, but his presence is felt," said German football writer Constantin Eckner.
