Don’t hit the panic button just yet…
News has been rampantly dropping on Florian Wirtz over the past few days.
Bayern Munich went from looking like a clear favorite to land the Bayer Leverkusen star to potentially playing second fiddle to Manchester City. Now, per Sport Bild’s Christian Falk (via @iMiaSanMia), we know just how serious Pep Guardiola is about getting Wirtz to replace Kevin De Bruyne (what a succession plan that would be):
Manchester City’s offer for Florian Wirtz ‘could come close’ to meeting Leverkusen’s €150m price tag.
Bayern are thought to be preparing an initial bid in the region of €100 million and are prepared to wait a year to sign Wirtz. But now with City pushing, the eventuality of the player staying put for another season seems unlikely.
Per Sky Sports journalist Lyall Thomas (via @iMiaSanMia), things could be getting very serious between Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City. In fact, there is — allegedly — “a verbal agreement on the framework of a deal” between the clubs:
There is understood to be a verbal agreement on the framework of a deal between Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen.
City are aware that Leverkusen would rather sell Wirtz to them than Bundesliga rivals Bayern Munich. Bayern are also pushing hard to sign him and are confident they can persuade him to join. But Wirtz is yet to make a final decision on his future.
It is absolutely vital to note a few things:
- Wirtz would need to agree to go to Manchester City.
- Bayern Munich has not really entered the bidding fray just yet.
- Bayer Leverkusen could be using Manchester City to drive up the price for Bayern Munich — something that would help provide a little revenge for the Bavarians potentially taking on both Wirtz and Jonathan Tah.
Things are quite frosty between Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen at the moment, but that does not mean a deal is dead — even if Pep Guardiola and the deep pockets of Manchester City are in the mix.
