It may feel like we’re in the thick of the summer transfer window, Liverpool fans, but that’s not the case. Rather, FSG are working with incredible prudence to strengthen Arne Slot’s Premier League champions.
Trent Alexander-Arnold will likely feature for the final time as a Liverpool player on Sunday in the season’s closing game against FA Cup winners Crystal Palace, but sporting director Richard Hughes has already engineered and wrapped up a move for his successor.
Bayer Leverkusen’s Jeremie Frimpong will play for the Merseysiders next season, with Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez also being pursued, discussions at an advanced stage.
Liverpool need something more in attack, too. While Mohamed Salah has forged an individual season for the ages, he’s perhaps been let down at times by his peers.
After penning a two-year extension, the Egyptian King needs to be supplemented by some elite-level firepower, someone capable of being his next Sadio Mane.
FSG may well have found just the man for the job.
Liverpool pushing to seal marquee signing
According to the Daily Mail’s Lewis Steele, Liverpool’s ambitious push to sign Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz is very much intact, with FSG doing everything in their power to bring the 22-year-old under Slot’s influence.
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Liverpool have been locked in a transfer battle with Bayern Munich for the talented midfielder’s services, and have been emboldened in recent days after Manchester City dropped out the race. Die Roten, however, remain favourites at this stage.
The truth is Liverpool will do all they can to get a deal done for Wirtz, Germany’s poster boy. However, given that the Bundesliga champions are also doing everything in their power to sign the playmaker, it’s not going to be easy.
In spite of the Germany international’s €150m (equating to about £126m) price tag, FSG are willing to green-light a staggering club-record transfer.
Here’s why.
Why Wirtz could be Slot's new "superstar"
Some might question why Liverpool aren’t instead preparing to fork out a similar sum on Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak, but if the Magpies seal a place in next season’s Champions League, the Swedish striker isn’t going anywhere.
And anyway, with Alexander-Arnold set to depart and take his boundless creativity with him, Liverpool need to find a new playmaker-in-chief.
That could be Wirtz, who, aged 22, has already overcome a crushing ACL injury to win an invincible domestic double, win the Bundesliga Player of the Year and be called “the best midfielder in the world” by former Werkself striker Patrick Helmes.
Attacking midfield
169
48
57
Left winger
21
4
5
Right winger
17
8
5
Centre-forward
15
7
7
Central midfield
5
0
3
He’s the real deal, all right. After just 197 senior appearances for his current club, the 5 foot 9 midfielder has scored 57 goals and supplied 65 assists, showcasing a level of reliability in the final third that the likes of Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai don’t project with the regularity of Salah.
Or Mane, for that matter. You could say that Wirtz stands a stellar chance of becoming Slot’s own version of the Senegalese legend, whose “world-class” attacking threat, as remarked by Jurgen Klopp, hasn’t yet been recaptured by any signing at Liverpool.
Mane signed for Liverpool in 2015, leaving Southampton for a £34m fee. He devoted the prime years of his career to Anfield and left a legend, instrumental in conquering the Premier League and the Champions League.
Though typically playing off the left, Mane was positionally fluid and made a menace of himself through remarkable powers of intensity, overwhelming his opponents before finding space to strike on goal.
Wirtz is more central (see the table above), but he does enjoy playing out on the left, with his heatmap from the 2024/25 Bundesliga campaign suggesting he drifts over more often than not.
It would give Slot a new tactical piece to play with, in any case. Wirtz has only missed eight big chances across Leverkusen’s league and European campaigns this year, scoring 16 goals. Moreover, he’s created 21 big chances, denoting his immense playmaking ability that will allow the Reds to transition away from the Alexander-Arnold era, such as it is.
As per FBref, Wirtz ranks among the top 8% of attacking midfielders and wingers across Europe’s top five leagues this season for goal contributions, the top 7% for shot-creating actions and progressive passes, and the top 4% for successful take-ons per 90.
The German’s unrelenting energy in driving the ball forward is something to be admired. It’s something, perhaps, that is Mane-esque.
With flair and fleet feet and a deadly switch when placed at the end of an attacking sequence, Wirtz is the real deal. ESPN correspondent Rob Palmer called him a “superstar in the making” a few weeks ago, but he may well already be of the highest station.
Liverpool need to get it done, giving Salah the perfect new attacking partner to win more silverware over the next few years.
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