When an opportunity like Florian Wirtz comes knocking, it would have been unwise for Liverpool to do anything but bend over backwards to get the deal done.
It came at a heavy price – £100m up front, with £16m in add-ons – although the Merseysiders did manage to beat out competition from Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.
A statement of intent from the Premier League champions – the title will not be easily relinquished in 2025/26.
Liverpool had talked with Kevin De Bruyne
It seems a shame that childhood Liverpool fan Kevin De Bruyne never got the chance to pull on the famous red shirt.
Not to suggest he didn’t enjoy a highly successful career in the Premier League! The Belgian international led the Sky Blues to a whopping six English top-flight titles, one Champions League trophy, and a swathe of additional domestic and European silverware.
Appearances
Goals
Assists
422
108
177
* Kevin De Bruyne’s total goal contributions at Manchester City, via Transfermarkt
At 33 years of age, the former Bundesliga star has crested the hill of his peak years in the sport, but still remains an enticing option for any respectable outfit in world football.
With that in mind, we can understand Liverpool’s decision-makers doing their due diligence in checking out such an attractive free agent.
The Athletic‘s Manchester City correspondent, Sam Lee, reports that there was a ‘short conversation’ between the club and De Bruyne’s camp.
Florian Wirtz would have left De Bruyne with limited game time
Ultimately, we went on to sign Wirtz for a club-record fee, so we have to question how much game time the former Manchester City hero would have received at Anfield.
That’s not a complaint on our end – we’re not so sure we’d want to be relying on a now injury-prone attacking midfielder to spearhead our creativity in the middle of the park. A rotational role would have suited Liverpool just fine (provided we could overlook Kevin De Bruyne’s likely seismic wage demands).
Understandably, the footballer has set his gaze abroad and on the prospect of more regular minutes.
Kudos to him.
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