Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz Transfer Pursuit Is Not Unusual

Liverpool is one of several clubs to have shown interest in signing Bayer Leverkusen’s 22-year-old star player Florian Wirtz, and though the German might seem an unusual target for the club due to the price tag of over $150 million, Liverpool is not averse to making moves for such players.

Liverpool has a reputation for finding value in the transfer market, but this isn’t limited to the underappreciated players signed for modest fees who then turn into top players at the club.

It also applies to players already playing at a high level on whom the club is prepared to spend big if it believes the ability justifies the hype.

Big Money Signings

To build the team that won the Premier League and Champions League under Jürgen Klopp, Liverpool paid Southampton $100 million for central defender Virgil van Dijk and sent a transfer fee of $87 million to Roma for goalkeeper Alisson, making them the most expensive transfers for a defender and goalkeeper at the time.

These are the two obvious examples of Liverpool being open to paying big money if it thinks a player is worth it.

It has been justified in those decisions, as these players have become two of the club’s best-ever players in their respective positions.

Liverpool obviously thinks Wirtz falls into this bracket and has such potential, and is right to do so.

Another player who might fit this category is Dominik Szoboszlai was also signed for a considerable transfer fee of $76 million from another Bundesliga side, RB Leipzig, ahead of Klopp’s final season at the club.

The Hungarian has gone on to prove himself to be a vital part of the team in and out of possession during this season’s Premier League title win under new manager Arne Slot, and is undoubtedly worth the fee paid.

Wirtz would be similar to Szoboszlai in terms of his application and work rate, but brings a whole load of extra creativity and go-forward to the team, which would complement the attributes of Szoboszlai and other Liverpool midfielders and attackers.

This naturally means Wirtz will command a higher transfer fee than previous targets of this ilk.

Though Liverpool will believe he is worth such a fee, which it will fund to some extent through sales as it has with other big signings in the past, the issue it has in these scenarios is that there is plenty of competition.

Clubs like to avoid bidding wars where possible, but with some players, it is unavoidable.

Liverpool has missed out on players such as Moisés Caicedo and Romeo Lavia to Chelsea in such scenarios in recent years, but future potential signings will now also consider Liverpool’s current stature in the game, and that it offers a realistic chance of winning silverware domestically and in Europe.

Big Money Moneyball

Though Liverpool is known for its Moneyball approach and ability to see value in players where other clubs might not spot any, the club’s owner, Fenway Sports Group (FSG), will offer big money for players if it believes the player and the timing are right for the team.

The same recruitment process that applies to the “Moneyball” signings made lower down the transfer fee scale also applies to those at the upper end, and even more stringently so due to the larger outlay.

There are a couple of those that haven’t worked out quite as planned, such as Naby Keïta, who was good when he played, but was too often injured; and Darwin Núñez, who has offered plenty to the team but didn’t turn his elite chance-getting into goals as often as will have been hoped when he became a club-record signing in 2022.

Of all of the big transfer targets Liverpool has pursued under FSG—those who signed and those who didn’t; those who worked out and those who didn’t—Wirtz is one of the bigger guarantees of success.

You don’t need to be an analyst or a qualified scout to see his talent. He is one of the best players to watch in the game currently, and any output is obvious through watching what happens on the field without looking at the statistics.

Liverpool will nevertheless have run the data and the background checks, and realise he will be a perfect fit for the setup under Slot, in attack and defence.

He’s as hardworking off the ball as he is skillful, direct, and entertaining on it, and could complement the existing talent in this Liverpool team playing as an attacking midfielder from the left or through the middle.

What Can Liverpool Offer Wirtz?

Having just won the Premier League title and shown evidence that it can continue to be successful post-Klopp, Liverpool is in a good position to prove to players that it is a club able to challenge for the game’s top trophies.

On top of this season’s Premier League success, it is worth remembering that Liverpool was also the best team in the first phase of the Champions League in 2024/25. Their early exit in the knockout stages underestimates their standing in Europe.

Their dubious ‘reward’ for topping the league phase table was a matchup with another of the best teams on the continent, Paris Saint-Germain, who had underperformed in the league phase but were an obvious sleeping giant.

Given the way this tournament is now structured, that game pit the two best teams in Europe against each other at an unusually early stage, and though Liverpool won the away leg (the only team to win in Paris in the knockout rounds), they lost the home leg and exited the tournament after losing a penalty shootout.

From there, PSG progressed to the Champions League final. Had Slot’s team come out on top in the penalty shootout, you wouldn’t have bet against them doing the same.

That is to say, the round of 16 stage exit seen on paper underplays how good Liverpool actually was in Europe this season, and it is still a Champions League contender going forward—something potential new high-profile signings will be aware of.

Add to that the club’s impressive charge to the Premier League title this season, which it wrapped up with four games to go, and it will be clear to players that this is a team that will be at least challenging for honors next season.

Liverpool is currently in as good a position as ever to attract some of the biggest players in world football, and it should make the most of it.

The way Liverpool operates, the interest in Wirtz will not have begun when the transfer stories began to roll out this week, especially given the club’s previous manager, Klopp, is one of the most revered names in German football and will have himself been an admirer of Wirtz.

Some groundwork will have been done, and Leverkusen and Wirtz representatives will already know of the club’s interest.

This interest alone doesn’t mean Wirtz will sign for Liverpool, but the Premier League champions’ pursuit of such a top-end, big-money player is not as unusual as might first be thought, and he makes complete sense as a transfer target at this moment in time.