Liverpool made the signing of the 2025 summer transfer window, stealing German superstar attacker Florian Wirtz from Bayern Munich in a blockbuster £116M deal.
Even as the 2024-25 season wound down with Liverpool waltzing to the Premier League title, nobody on the outside could have reasonably predicted they would soon make the summer transfer window’s biggest signing by signing German superstar Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen in a club record £116M deal.
Going for more than a year, the universal assumption was Wirtz was fated to join Bayern Munich. If he somehow didn’t, Manchester City and Real Madrid were waiting to pounce in case the Bavarians let him slip away. Instead, it was the Reds making a statement of intent signing—with City and Madrid not truly in the running.
“There were several clubs interested, but Bayern and Liverpool remained the only serious options,” Wirtz’ father, Hans-Joachim Wirtz, revealed in an interview with Der Spiegel. “The situation with Bayern was difficult because [they] made incredible efforts and also clearly analyzed the sporting possibilities.”
In the end, though, Liverpool’s efforts managed to be more impressive, both when it came to manager Arne Slot’s vision of how to integrate Wirtz into his side and aid in the 22-year-old’s continuing development and also when it came to the investments made in the club’s world class training centre and support staff.
“Arne Slot has impressed Florian with what he’s done on the pitch,” Wirtz’ father noted. “He’s also a very pleasant person. Florian’s best coaches have always been those who gave him a lot of freedom and those with the most empathy. He also finds the English game interesting because it thrives on pace and dynamism.
“Slot presented his playing philosophy, the team tactics for possession and pressing, and how Florian can develop his strengths in these areas. That made a decisive impression on Florian. The training conditions in Liverpool were also totally impressive. Plus: Florian is now at a good age to move abroad.
“We set ourselves a deadline [and] all three of us shared the same perception and thus made the joint decision in favour of Liverpool. Florian saw the move abroad as a new personal and sporting challenge and therefore chose Liverpool.”