Liverpool are expected to make a fourth and final official offer to Bayer Leverkusen to sign playmaker Florian Wirtz, with a compromise over the transfer fee concluding talks
Liverpool are expected to make a FOURTH and final offer to Bayer Leverkusen in order to find a compromise on a transfer fee for Florian Wirtz. Liverpool have been locked in talks with the German club over the signing of Wirtz for weeks and negotiations are finally reaching an end game.
The Reds submitted a third official bid for the playmaker on Friday made up of £100million plus £13m in add-ons. That would represent a British transfer record, eclipsing the £106.8m Chelsea paid Benfica for Enzo Fernandez in February 2023, but is still short of Leverkusen’s asking price.
Leverkusen have been holding out for £126.4m from the very start of negotiations, which have been led by Reds sporting director Richard Hughes, but it now seems as though a compromise can finally be reached.
The German side have already sold Jeremie Frimpong to Liverpool for £29.5m and they have moved a step closer to receiving a major pay day from the Premier League champions.
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Leverkusen are expecting a fourth and final offer for Wirtz in the next 24 hours – and that they will shake hands for £118m. That is because Liverpool have made it clear that they won’t go as high as £126m and Leverkusen don’t want to overplay their hand.
The club knows that Wirtz has his heart set on moving to Merseyside and that they need to cash in now. Considering Liverpool started out talks with a bid of £85m (€100m), Leverkusen will still be delighted with their business, if it does indeed get concluded.
Wirtz, who could earn a whopping £355,000-a-week at Liverpool, is set to play for Germany in the Nations League third-place play-off against France in Stuttgart on Sunday and wants his future sorted soon. He chose Liverpool after holding talks with Bayern Munich and was impressed by the Reds’ plans for him.
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If Liverpool do finally conclude talks with Leverkusen it will be the culmination of years of hard work. That’s because former sporting director – and current Fenway Sports Group chief executive of football – Michael Edwards has been tracking him since 2020, when Wirtz was playing for Koln.
Wirtz has been the stand-out player in the Bundesliga over the past few seasons, having helped Leverkusen win the title in 2023/24. The 22-year-old got 15 goals and 16 assists in 45 games across all competitions last season and is ready to leave Germany for a new challenge.
Liverpool have money in the bank after a quiet summer before the 2024/25 season in which they brought in just one player: Federico Chiesa. However, with Frimpong signed and deals being negotiated for Wirtz and Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez, they know they must sell some players to balance the books.
Darwin Nunez, Harvey Elliott, Andy Robertson and Chiesa are among those who could move on this summer after Caoimhin Kelleher completed his transfer to Brentford for £18m.
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