Liverpool have confirmed the signing of Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen, with the midfielder declaring his desire to “win everything”. The German will cost a club record £100 million and his price could rise with add-ons to £116 million (€135 million), which would make him the most expensive British transfer.
Leverkusen had wanted €150m for the 22-year-old, who also attracted interest from Bayern Munich, but weeks of talks brought down the price. Wirtz, an attacking midfielder, scored 16 goals and provided 15 assists in the past season in 45 club appearances. He has signed a five-year deal at Anfield.
Wirtz, who has played 31 times for Germany, succeeds Darwin Núñez as Liverpool’s record signing. Núñez arrived from Benfica in June 2022 but the forward is for sale after an underwhelming spell.
“I feel very happy and very proud. Finally it’s done and I was waiting for a long time,” Wirtz said on Liverpool’s website. “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.
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“I will see how I can perform. I hope I can do my best. I spoke also with some players who played [at Liverpool] 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.
“I would like to win everything every year. First of all, we have to do our work, I have to make my work. In the end, we want to be successful. 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.”
Liverpool have also bought Jeremie Frimpong, a right-back, from Leverkusen for €34.5 million and have agreed a €47 million deal to buy the left-back Milos Kerkez from Bournemouth. Kerkez is due for a medical next week with a view to signing a five-year deal and Liverpool are also keen on the Crystal Palace defender Marc Guéhi.
In a further part of the squad renewal the goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili will complete his move to Anfield from Valencia in a deal agreed last summer. Liverpool are in talks with Leverkusen over selling the England Under-21s defender Jarell Quansah to the Bundesliga club.
Elsewhere, Nottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo has extended his contract with the club until the summer of 2028 after helping the club qualify for a European competition for the first time since 1996. - Guardian
