Sam McGuire: You don’t negotiate, you spend €150million on Florian Wirtz | OneFootball

Florian Wirtz, then.

I didn't think I'd be writing this. Everything seemed to point to him joining Bayern Munich. If Bayer Leverkusen blocked that move, I just expected Manchester City to throw everything at the 22-year-old to secure his signature.

Yet, despite the reported €150million price-tag, Liverpool appear to be in the mix for the Germany international. The Reds aren't deterred by the fee B04 want. They seemingly aren't put off by the fact Man City are seemingly prepared to give Wirtz a blank cheque in a bid to convince him to move by the Etihad.

That tells me the Premier League champions fancy their chances here. If Liverpool couldn't afford him, they wouldn't bother meeting with him and his family.

A lot of the reports in the UK seem to suggest this is an opportunistic move and that Liverpool have reacted to the possibility that he might not join Bayern Munich. The implication is that Man City have done all the heavy lifting here and that the Premier League champions have simply piggybacked onto their hard work.

This isn't the case though.

The Reds have kept a close eye on him for a while now.

But the point here is that Liverpool have been in contact with Wirtz and his family for quite some time. They'll have put the hard yards in. This isn't a Moises Caicedo situation. The Premier League champions haven't simply joined the race late and tried to muscle in after an agreement with another club was already made.

They would've been at the front of the queue, waiting to react if Wirtz gave the thumbs up to a move to England this time around.

So, here we are. The Bayer No10 must be at least weighing up a move to the Premier League if he's flown to England to speak to the champions, in person.

I've seen a few say they like Wirtz but they don't like him enough to pay the reported €150million fee. I do understand why people might be put off by that figure. It is a lot of money. It is an obscene amount of money to part with even when you consider the player to be a guarantee. It is even more of a risk when you're signing someone with no experience outside of Germany. There's always a risk they don't adapt to the rigours of the Premier League.

After all, Timo Werner and, to an extent, Kai Havertz, struggled to make that move. You could argue that Naby Keita failed to live up to the hype following his switch from RB Leipzig to Liverpool.

Bundesliga tax seems to be that the league is a lot more open and that it caters to attackers.

The argument seems to be that €150million for someone who doesn’t have great attacking numbers in a league that favours attackers is a gamble. At surface level, I do get it.

The 29-cap Germany international has just eight non-penalty goals in the Bundesliga this term and has a Non-Penalty xG per 90 average of just 0.24. For a bit of context here, Curtis Jones, Adam Armstrong and Mohammed Kudus have a NPxG90 of 0.24 in the Premier League this season.

You aren’t paying £126million for those, are you?

But the 5ft10 attacking midfielder is more than just goals. He’s chipped in with assists too. In fact, he’s scored 10+ goals and chipped in with 10+ assists in back to back league seasons.

He makes things happen.

Wirtz has averaged 2.83 shots per 90 this term and 5.81 shot-creating actions. At the time of writing, he's averaged 0.99 goal-creating actions per 90 in the Bundesliga. Like I said, in the final third, he makes something happen.

Combine that with his 5.06 progressive carries, 7.01 progressive passes and 12 progressive passes received and you start to get a picture of him as a player. He can score, create, progress play, via a pass or a dribble, and carry the ball. What I like about him as a player is how he can, and does, use either foot.

For example, 81% of his efforts this season have been right-footed shots but key passes are split 60%-40% in favour of his right. He opens up new angles to play killer passes on his weaker side.

He ranks third for duels won, per the Bundesliga website, showing he pulls his weight without the ball too. Wirtz isn't the quickest but he makes up for it with clever positioning, tenacity and quick thinking. He would be a key part of the high press implemented by Arne Slot.

The 22-year-old is the real deal. He's one of the few players in world football who, if they're available, you pay the money and then figure everything else out later.