Liverpool are already closing in on a deal for Bayer Leverkusen defender Jeremie Frimpong and they could also make a move for his teammate Florian Wirtz amid interest from Man City
Liverpool have been boosted in their bid to sign Florian Wirtz after Manchester City PULLED OUT of the transfer battle to land the Bayer Leverkusen star. Both Premier League rivals have long been keeping tabs on the Germany midfielder and have been interested in bringing him to England.
His current employers Bayer Leverkusen are keen to earn as much as £126million from any sale this summer – although a final deal is likely to come in cheaper. But that price tag as a part of the total package required to sign Wirtz appears to have been enough to put City off, who are now looking elsewhere for alternative targets.
As first reported by the BBC, Pep Guardiola’s side have cooled their interest in Wirtz having been left concerned about how much the entire deal for the 22-year-old will cost. City number-crunchers have taken a close look at a deal and including his wages, have estimated that a deal would cost around £250m all in, including salary and bonuses across a long-term contract.
City chiefs do not believe a deal of that expenditure is value for money due to its inflated nature and, with Wirtz having long been believed to be more keen to join Bayern Munich than move out of the Bundesliga, have pulled their interest. It is not the first time that the club have decided to do such a thing when they’ve decided the financials just don’t add up.
City have previously been interested in the likes of Fred, Jorginho, Frenkie de Jong, Harry Kane, Harry Maguire and Kalidou Koulibaly over the years – only to ultimately shelve their interest in those players due to concerns of the expense of each of those deals.
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City will now look elsewhere for summer additions. They still need to find a replacement for Kevin De Bruyne, with Nottingham Forest star Morgan Gibbs-White emerging as a potential front-runner, while Argentine youngster Claudio Echeverri – who made his debut in the FA Cup Final – is set to be a part of the first-team squad next term.
Back to Wirtz, his future remains up in the air, with Liverpool, Bayern and Real Madrid all tipped to want to make a deal happen this summer.
Speaking recently, Bayer Leverkusen CEO Fernando Carro claimed that any reports of an imminent deal were inaccurate. Speaking to RTL/ntv, he said: “I know it’s not true, and it’s frustrating to read reports that don’t reflect reality.
“We have a trusting relationship with Florian and his parents – we’re in contact almost every day. Of course, Florian has to think about his future, but as far as we’re aware – and I’m confident this is accurate – no decision has been made about his next step.”
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On the subject of Bayern’s interest, Carro also revealed that there has been no contact from the Bundesliga champions.
He added: “Bayern Munich can submit an offer at any time, and we would have to consider it – but at this moment, we haven’t received a single offer from any club.”
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