‘We Gave Our All’—Bayern Munich Chief Reflects on Florian Wirtz Battle With Liverpool | OneFootball

Former Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has expressed his disappointment after Liverpool beat the Bundesliga champions to the signature of Florian Wirtz.

Manchester City and Bayern were among the clubs reported to be interested in signing former Bayer Leverkusen star Wirtz this summer, but it was Premier League champions Liverpool who secured his services for a fee potentially rising to £116 million ($156.1 million).

Liverpool announced the signing of the 22-year-old playmaker on Friday and he was eager to make the move to Anfield over staying in the Bundesliga.

“I’m really excited to have a new adventure in front of me,” Wirtz said in his first Liverpool interview. “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.”

However, Wirtz also admitted it wasn’t initially an easy decision and he didn’t expect that Liverpool would be his next club.

Perennial German talent poachers Bayern will have been disappointed to see Wirtz broaden his horizons and take on a new challenge, with Rummenigge—a club legend now on the supervisory board for Die Roten—voicing his frustration at the failed transfer pursuit.

Wirtz opted for Liverpool over Bayern. / Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

“Fundamentally, I think it’s a shame,” he told Welt am Sonntag. “We’ve always had the philosophy that the best German players should play for FC Bayern. We gave it our all; in this case, no one made a mistake. It’s Florian’s decision—and we have to accept it.”

Bayern had already secured Jonathan Tah from Bundesliga title rivals Leverkusen as a free agent in May but were unable to convince his compatriot to rebuff Liverpool.

Wirtz will be joining another former clubmate on Merseyside, however, with ex-Leverkusen right-back Jeremie Frimpong having signed for the Reds earlier in the summer. Young goalkeeper Ármin Pécsi has also joined the 2024–25 Premier League winners, with Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez close to finalising an Anfield switch as well.

It’s not all bad news for Leverkusen, though. Liverpool’s Jarell Quansah appears set to make the move to the BayArena in the near future for around £34 million ($45.8 million), replacing Bayern’s Tah in the defence and working with former Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag.