Florian Wirtz: Liverpool agree British record transfer fee of £116m
Liverpool have agreed the signing of Germany midfielder Florian Wirtz for a potential British record transfer fee of £116m.
The Premier League champions will pay Bayer Leverkusen a minimum of £100m for the 22-year-old but that amount could increase to £116m if Wirtz meets certain performance targets.
If Liverpool pay the maximum amount it would eclipse the £115m fee Chelsea agreed to pay Brighton for Moises Caicedo in 2023, which is also dependent on clauses being activated.
The biggest guaranteed fee paid by a British club is £107m, according to the BBC, which was also committed by Chelsea for Enzo Fernandez two years ago.
Wirtz is by far Liverpool’s most expensive signing, beating the £85m they spent on Uruguay forward Darwin Nunez in the summer of 2022.
He is also the second player to move from Bayer Leverkusen to Anfield this summer, after Netherlands full-back Jeremie Frimpong.
The 20-time English champions are believed to be in the market for a new left-back, with Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez reported to be their main target.
They will also welcome Georgia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili next month in a deal that was struck last summer after he starred at Euro 2024.
Wirtz snubs Bayern to join Liverpool
Liverpool have lost England right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold to Real Madrid and sold back-up keeper Caoimhin Kelleher to Brentford.
Wirtz, who typically plays as a No10, has emerged as one of Europe’s brightest talents in recent seasons and rebuffed interest from Bayern Munich to move to Merseyside.
In 197 games for Leverkusen he has scored 57 goals and contributed 65 assists, helping them to win the Bundesliga title for the first time in 2024.
Wirtz has won 31 caps for Germany, scoring seven goals.