It was at 7pm on Friday evening that Liverpool officially confirmed the signing of Florian Wirtz in a club-record £116m deal (The Athletic).
The transfer had seemed to be on the verge of completion throughout June, with the player’s involvement for Germany at the UEFA Nations League finals and his subsequent holiday contributing to the wait for it to be announced by the Reds until yesterday.
As you can imagine with a transaction of such magnitude and expense, it’s one which had been in the works for several months before finally coming to fruition.
The timeline of Florian Wirtz’s transfer to Liverpool
Shortly after Wirtz was confirmed as a Liverpool player, The Athletic published an in-depth article which charted the timeline of how we reached this most satisfying of crescendos.
The seeds were sown back in November when he was in the Bayer Leverkusen team which was thrashed 4-0 at Anfield in the Champions League. The Bundesliga side were offered the use of LFC’s training base in Kirkby the next morning for a warm-down and the 22-year-old was ‘blown away’ by the facilities on offer.
Fast forward to March, and it was at that point that the Reds’ sporting director Richard Hughes sought permission from the German club to speak with their player, outlining their ambitious plans to him and his inner circle and convincing him that he’d be coming to a team who’d consistently challenge for the Premier League and Champions League.
Wirtz informed Leverkusen of his wishes to leave in early May and was keen to test himself in a new league, with long-time suitors Bayern Munich reluctantly accepting that a move to Liverpool was his preference.
Last month, Hughes held ‘complex but friendly talks’ with his BayArena counterpart Simon Rolfes. The discussions were understandably lengthy but always amicable, with the up-front £100m fee agreed upon early as negotiations centred around the composition and value of the add-ons.
Eventually a £116m package was agreed, with both clubs ultimately able to come away feeling satisfied with the outcome.
Wirtz signing represents a masterclass from Hughes
In hindsight, it feels serendipitous that Liverpool and Leverkusen were drawn together in the Champions League last season, with the German club’s visit to Anfield (and subsequently Kirkby) facilitating the opportunity for Wirtz to be wowed by the Merseyside experience.
Hughes deserves enormous credit for how he’s gone about overseeing the transfer, getting in early with his approach to Rolfes and striking the perfect balance of keeping negotiations sufficiently amicable so as not to antagonise the Bundesliga side, while refusing to bow to their initial €150m (£128.5m) valuation for the player.
The Premier League champions had been unsuccessful with several bids before eventually striking an agreement with Die Werkself, refusing to give up in their pursuit of the 22-year-old and ultimately signing him on their terms rather than going straight in at the selling club’s preferred price point.
Leverkusen could end up getting something in return as they close in on the signing of Jarell Quansah, which could see Liverpool recoup roughly a quarter of their outlay on Wirtz.
If the German even comes close to living up to his initial billing and transfer fee, this transfer will unquestionably go down as a textbook example of the phrase ‘Richard Hughes masterclass’.
