Empire of the Kop
·24 September 2024
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Yahoo sportsEmpire of the Kop
·24 September 2024
Liverpool and half of Europe will no doubt be keeping a very close eye on Florian Wirtz’s situation at Bayer Leverkusen ahead of the 2025 summer window.
Sources out of Germany (CaughtOffside) have already made it very clear that the German international is likely to seek pastures new next year after opting to stay put for the 2024/25 campaign.
The right-footed attacking midfielder has been tipped to set an interested party back in the region of €100m [£83.2m], with CaughtOffside now reporting that the Merseysiders’ interest is increasing. Indeed, Arne Slot’s men are now expected to put the money forward for Wirtz when his situation changes next year.
Florian Wirtz in Bundesliga action – (Photo by Christof Koepsel/Getty Images)
German football insider Christian Falk has claimed that this figure is more likely to be north of £83.2m, with Xabi Alonso’s side looking for £125.9m [€150m] next year.
Given the ‘incredible’ (as described by Joe Cole on TNT Sports) player will still have two years left on a contract expiring in 2027 by that point, their stance is more than understandable.
Given the seismic nature of the fee, either way, we won’t be able to approach this transfer battle half-cocked.
Serious money will be thrown on the table for one of Europe’s most promising young talents. We might even potentially see the asking price rise a step further if Wirtz can maintain his current sensational form (seven goal contributions in as many games).
The only question that remains, from a Liverpool perspective, is whether or not Richard Hughes believes the 21-year-old is worth plumping out for when other key areas of the squad are in need of addressing.
This will certainly become clearer once we have a better idea of what the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk’s long-term futures look like.