Liverpool sign Leverkusen's Wirtz in club-record £116 million
Liverpool have completed the signing of Germany international Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen in a club-record £116 million transfer.
The 22-year-old has signed a long-term deal with the Reds, understood to be five years, which will keep him on Merseyside until at least 2030, after completing a medical at the club's training ground on Friday, News.Az reports, citing BBC Sport.
The deal, which includes a guaranteed £100m and a further £16m in add-ons, tops Liverpool's previous club record signing of Virgil van Dijk for £75m in 2018.
Should those add-ons be achieved, Wirtz's move to Anfield would become a British transfer record to beat the £107m Chelsea paid Benfica for Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez in 2023.
Wirtz, who scored 57 goals in 197 Leverkusen appearances, is Liverpool's second major signing of the summer and the club's second from the Bundesliga runners-up following the arrival of Dutch right-back Jeremie Frimpong for £29.5m last month.
"I would like to win everything every year. First of all, we have to do our work," said Wirtz, whose shirt number will be announced later in the summer.
"Last season they won the Premier League so my goal is for sure to win it again and also to go further in the Champions League. I'm really ambitious.
"I'm really excited to have a new adventure in front of me. This was also a big point of my thoughts: that I want to have something completely new, to go out of the Bundesliga and to join the Premier League.
"I will see how I can perform there. I hope I can do my best.
"I spoke also with some players who played there and they told me that it's perfect for me and every pitch is perfect, you can enjoy every game. I'm really looking forward to playing my first game."
Wirtz made his top-flight debut aged 17 for Bayer Leverkusen in May 2020 and just 19 days later he became the then-youngest goalscorer in Bundesliga history against the might of Bayern Munich - a club who were also in contention for his signature this summer.
In addition to his goalscoring efforts, Wirtz has provided 44 assists in the Bundesliga since he made his debut.
That ranks him third of all players over that time but everyone else in the top five is aged 29 or older, which indicates the high ceiling for Wirtz's development.
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