Liverpool have confirmed the signing of German international Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen in a club-record deal worth up to £116 million.
The 22-year-old attacking midfielder has signed a five-year contract, becoming the Reds’ biggest-ever signing and one of the most high-profile arrivals of the summer across Europe.
Wirtz spoke about the move with clear excitement, saying he felt the time was right to take the next step in his career.
“I just thought that it was the right point in my career to make the next step,” he explained. “I wanted to get to a club that is from the top three in the world, and in my opinion, Liverpool was one of them.”
He described his decision to join Liverpool as one that came from a deep sense of conviction. “I just saw myself in the best hands in Liverpool. I was really convinced by the people here, by the idea, and everything the club offers me was really good,” he added. “And in the end, it was also easy to be excited for me to come to Liverpool.”
Leaving Germany wasn’t an easy decision for the midfielder, who has 31 caps for his country, but he admitted that conversations with the Liverpool hierarchy made a huge impression.
“It was not that easy for me, for sure, because I am a German player, I play for the Germany national team,” he said. “But I think the talks with the coach and Richard [Hughes] and everybody were, from the very first time, so good and it just kept going like this.”
He continued: “Every time I spoke to someone from the club, I felt like, ‘this is the place I want to be’ – and in the end I was really 100 per cent convinced I want to join Liverpool. It was the best choice.”
Wirtz also made it clear that he hasn’t come to Anfield just to settle, he’s here to win. “I would like to win everything every year,” he said. “Last season they won the Premier League, so my goal is for sure to win it again and also to go further in the Champions League. I’m really ambitious.”
The midfielder arrives off the back of a stunning season in Germany, where he scored 16 goals and assisted 15 more in 45 appearances. In total, he played 197 times for Leverkusen, with 57 goals and 65 assists to his name.
Wirtz becomes Liverpool’s second signing from Leverkusen this summer after Jeremie Frimpong, and joins new additions including Giorgi Mamardashvili, Armin Pecsi, and £40 million left-back Milos Kerkez from Bournemouth.
He will now return to Germany for a short break before linking up with his new teammates for pre-season in July.
