According to Sky Sports reporter Florian Plettenberg, Liverpool has joined the race to sign Bayer Leverkusen youngster Florian Wirtz either in January or next summer, at the latest.
The Reds are back in action this evening against LASK in the Europa League and Jurgen Klopp will be thrilled with how quickly the side has gelled despite a major transformation in the summer.
Liverpool lost a lot of their most experienced players with Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Fabinho and Roberto Firmino all departing for new challenges last summer, however, the youth injection in midfield has been a much-needed breath of fresh air since the season began.
Indeed, there is still plenty of work to be done to get the Merseyside giants back to winning trophies consistently and building that fearless mentality that was so terrifying to come up against as an opponent.
As a result, it will come as no surprise that Liverpool are continuing to be linked with young talents who could become the next generation of success under Klopp at Anfield, and Florian Wirtz is the latest to be name-checked.
German journalist Florian Plettenberg took to Twitter yesterday to confirm that Liverpool are one of the clubs interested in signing the Germany international:
“More on Florian #Wirtz: Bayer 04 hopes that he will stay for one more season. Bosses are convinced that he will definitely leave the club, at the latest, in the summer of 2025.”
“?? All big clubs are in (Real, ManCity, Liverpool, ManUtd…)”
“?? If they can really afford the ? package, #FCBayern has the best chances!”
“?Wirtz has not given any club the commitment, he is 100% focused on Leverkusen.@SkySportDE”
What position does Florian Wirtz play?
There is no doubt that Wirtz is one to watch at the moment as he has been an outstanding asset to Leverkusen and is rightfully attracting interest from the biggest clubs in the world, including Real Madrid.
Liverpool are no strangers to going up against Los Blancos in the transfer market and have come out worse off on both occasions in recent years with both Jude Bellingham and Aurelien Tchouameni targets that chose Spain instead of Merseyside.
Wirtz is a consistent and threatening attacking midfielder who would need to compete with the likes of Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott and Dominik Szoboszlai for a place in the Liverpool starting eleven, but would certainly offer huge competition for the most advanced role in the centre of the pitch.
As per FBref, the 20-year-old is ranking in the top 10% of his positional peers across the top five European leagues for assists, shot-creating actions, progressive passes and successful take-ons per 90 minutes played, which is incredibly impressive given his age.
Considering the amount of attacking-minded midfielders Liverpool already possess in their squad the acquisition would only make sense if the club were planning to sell one or more of their midfield assets, which seems incredibly unlikely in the January window.
With that being said, the club interest in this player, in particular, should be one to keep a close eye on for Liverpool fans as a push to sign Wirtz could spell the end of the road at Anfield for another.
