Liverpool smash multiple transfer records to sign Wirtz for reported €150M

Liverpool agreed to sign Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen on Friday in a transfer reportedly worth over €136 million (£100 million) before add-ons.

That fee already makes the 22-year-old Liverpool's club-record signing, while he leapfrogs Kai Havertz as the most expensive German of all time and overtakes Jude Bellingham as the priciest Bundesliga sale.

The potential fee after bonuses is €150 million (£116 million). Should the conditions in his contract be met, he will comfortably surpass Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez (£107 million with no add-ons) as the biggest transfer in British football history, according to BBC Sport's Emlyn Begley. Moises Caicedo, Fernandez's teammate at Stamford Bridge, could reportedly cost up to £115 million after add-ons.

Neymar remains the world's most expensive player from his €222-million transfer to Paris Saint-Germain in 2017. If his deal is ultimately worth €150 million, it would make Wirtz the third-most expensive player ever behind only Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.

Wirtz signed a long-term contract on Merseyside.

"I'm really excited to have a new adventure in front of me," Wirtz said. "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."

Wirtz has long been considered one of the best young players on the planet. He started to realize his potential when he recovered from an ACL injury early in 2023 and became the talisman of Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen squad. Die Werkself sensationally ended Bayern Munich's 11-year Bundesliga reign while winning their first title with an unbeaten 2023-24 domestic campaign. Leverkusen also beat Kaiserslautern in the DFB-Pokal final. The only defeat of their season came in the Europa League final against Atalanta.

Over the course of that historic campaign, Wirtz scored 17 goals and provided 18 assists while enthralling onlookers with his relentless energy, evasive dribbling, and overall incredible technical ability.

Leverkusen won the DFL-Supercup at the start of the following term, but they couldn't maintain the same frenetic pace in the league or cup competitions. But Wirtz was still influential for Alonso's side with 10 goals and 12 assists in the Bundesliga and another six goals and two assists across DFB-Pokal and Champions League play.

His arrival at Liverpool should ease some of the attacking burden on 32-year-old Mohamed Salah, who sensationally fired 29 goals and assisted 18 times as the Reds won the 2024-25 Premier League title. Arne Slot's attack should look refreshed next season with Wirtz's inclusion, while Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz are repeatedly linked with moves away.

"For a striker, it's a dream to have this player behind you," Leverkusen striker Patrik Schick said of Wirtz last December.

Jeremie Frimpong, who also joined from Leverkusen, and young Hungarian goalkeeper Armin Pecsi are the other incoming deals struck by Liverpool this summer. The club is also strongly linked with a move for Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez.