Florian Wirtz would certainly be a coup for Liverpool if the Reds were able to pull off the signing of the Bayer Leverkusen star.
Speculation has been growing over the past 24 hours about the German international’s future, with reports on Wednesday claiming that he flew to England with his parents in order to hold talks with Liverpool and Manchester City. However, Liverpool.com understands that is not the case.
The Reds though do hold an interest in Wirtz, who has become one of the most highly sought-after players in the world over the last couple of years. Not only has he attracted attention from Liverpool and City, but Real Madrid and Bayern Munich have also been linked with his services.
Signing Wirtz would be a huge statement of intent from Liverpool after winning the Premier League in Arne Slot’s first season in charge. Not only that, but it would show something of a ruthless streak from the Reds boss.
Not least because it would have a very obvious effect on one of his most important players this season. Considering Wirtz’s preferred position as a No.10, Dominik Szoboszlai would be the obvious casualty from the current side in order to fit the 22-year-old in.
The Hungarian has become one-third of Slot’s preferred midfield trio alongside Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch, although he would appear to be the most expendable of the trio, given he has been more regularly swapped out for Curtis Jones.
And there has been some criticism, most notably from Jamie Carragher, about his contributions in front of goal, having scored seven times and added nine assists in 47 appearances across all competitions this season.
(Image: Getty Images)
There’s no doubt Wirtz would be an upgrade in that department, with 16 goals and 15 assists in 44 appearances this season alone. Szoboszlai would therefore likely find himself becoming second-choice in that advanced role in midfield.
Writz’s arrival would perhaps have an even bigger impact on Jones and Harvey Elliott though.
The former is undoubtedly next in line for a spot in midfield, and he does have the advantage of being more versatile than Szoboszlai, meaning he can fill in for any of the three positions in the engine room, and even offer an alternative at right-back, as we’ve seen this season.
His opportunities do seem to have dwindled somewhat during the second half of the season, and Wirtz’s arrival would perhaps lead to even fewer minutes for the academy graduate. He would still be in a more favorable position than Elliott though.
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The 22-year-old has struggled to make his impact under Slot, despite a couple of notable goals in the Champions League. Were Writz to arrive, then his best hope of getting some minutes would perhaps come as back-up to Mohamed Salah on the right – and as Federico Chiesa would tell him, there aren’t many opportunities there either.
In all likelihood though, Elliott, Jones and Szoboszlai won’t have anything to worry about.
Unlike his Leverkusen teammate Jeremie Frimpong, striking a deal for Wirtz would be extremely difficult for Liverpool, or any team for that matter, considering the reported asking price of €150 million ($183M).
What’s more, there is an expectation that Wirtz will stay in Germany this summer, so while there is an interest from Liverpool, we probably shouldn’t get our hopes up.
