Florian Wirtz will soon complete the most high-profile transfer of the summer after Liverpool finally agreed a deal to sign the German superstar for a fee that could rise to £116million.
Last week Liverpool were confident of doing and were just finalising the details of add-ons and bonuses.
And they have now struck an agreement with Bayer Leverkusen for a base £100m fee that will rise to an English record £116m based on those bonuses which include winning the Premier League and Champions Leaguewith Wirtz at the heart of those potential successors.
Nevertheless it represents an extraordinary piece of business for Liverpool and they believe they have pulled off one of the coups of the summer with talks led by sporting director Richard Hughes.
Wirtz has been telling people his move was a ‘done deal’ for some days now and sources in Germany also talked about the move with certainty for some time, but Liverpool only achieved a definite breakthrough in the last 24 hours.
The 22-year-old is currently on holiday and is expected to undergo a medical in England when that finishes, though this has not been scheduled yet.
He has already viewed houses in the Cheshire area with him choosing Liverpool over Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Real Madrid more than a fortnight ago.
Liverpool view the deal on par with their recruitment of Virgil van Dijk and Alisson, both of which were big-money moves. And they see Wirtz as one of the gems of European football.
He has already held talks with Arne Slot and the Dutch manager has outlined a vision to him over playing in the No 10 role but Liverpool acknowledge he is a versatile player who can play out wide, deeper in midfield and as a striker if needed.
While on international duty last week, Wirtz nodded when asked by Mail Sport if he was ‘excited for Liverpool’. Though that may have been just a polite nod, the player is said to be ecstatic at the idea of playing with the likes of Mohamed Salah for the Premier League champions.
Liverpool are also in direct and official contact with Bournemouth over signing left back Milos Kerkez with the Cherries wanting about £45m. The Reds hope to negotiate that down slightly but it will take their summer spending to north of £200m when also factoring in the £29m signing of right back Jeremie Frimpong and the arrival of Valencia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili for the same price.
They will have to balance the books with sales but their summer business may continue after with them still having designs on a No 9 and defender.
Source: Daily Mail football
