EXC: The secrets of Florian Wirtz, Liverpool’s record-breaking bargain

We came to Munich armed with a burning question and left with an even bigger one.

Our jaunt was a mission to find Florian Wirtz, to talk to those who know him and gain an insight into the feeling among the German population. Ultimately, we were here to ask: is the 22-year-old Bayer Leverkusen playmaker worth the eye-watering, £100million-plus sum Liverpool are prepared to cough up?

The answer to that is a big, fat yes. Absolutely yes, this special superstar is worth every penny to break the Premier League’s transfer record, with evidence to support our claim to follow.

But boarding our flight home from storm-hit Bavaria to a similarly dismal north west England, we were bugged by another question.

In the bowels of the Allianz Arena, Mail Sport lingered in the muggy mixed zone – the area where players leave the ground and try their best to avoid reporters hungry for a quote or two – for about an hour waiting for Wirtz, who had started and scored in Germany’s 2-1 Nations League semi-final defeat by Portugal.

As he walked past, we asked a simple question: ‘Are you excited for Liverpool, Florian?’ He shot a glance in our direction and nodded.

More than four million people watched the video of the exchange within a few hours of it being posted and many Liverpool fans lost their minds. Was this Wirtz giving the nod that he will soon join the Premier League champions?

Or, was it just a polite, young chap nodding to say hello and not flat-out ignoring us? Did he even understand the dulcet, north-west England tones of this reporter?

Well, we will let readers make their own minds up on that – but at least he did not shoot down talk of Liverpool. He has form for denying stories after taking to social media on Tuesday to refute a German report that he was demanding Alexis Mac Allister’s No 10 shirt at Anfield.

Regardless of the nonchalant nod and what it means, it appears Wirtz is indeed excited for Liverpool. Sources speak of him brimming with enthusiasm to take this step out of his comfort zone to move to England.

The Reds have broken their transfer record to sign Wirtz, after agreeing a £116million deal with Bayer Leverkusen which will include £100m initially and the rest paid in bonuses.

So, what are Liverpool getting for their money?

‘Florian Wirtz is the best player in the world,’ says one fan who supports Borussia Dortmund but is sporting a Wirtz No 17 Germany shirt next to his pal in a Jamal Musiala jersey. 

‘He is the best motherf***ing player in the world, sorry for my bad English!

‘At Liverpool, he will be the No 1 player. You will love him, I swear to God.’

Another fan adds: ‘His dribbling is amazing, he is fantastic, technically good, he can shimmy past other players. Of course he will be a good signing for Liverpool. I think he can win the Ballon d’Or in the next few years.’

Glowing references, to say the least. Replica Wirtz kits were the most common spotted on the walk from Frottmaning station to the Allianz. Clearly, he is the poster boy, the leader of the next generation, the kid from the banks of the Rhine with the world at his feet.

He started on the left of the attack against Portugal but regularly drifted into central areas to dictate play, also dropping deep to get on the ball more. Arne Slot, it is understood, sees him as a No 10 but his versatility can only help as the Liverpool head coach tries to keep the likes of Dominik Szoboszlai and Mac Allister in the side.

‘He can control the game and the rhythm,’ says Maximilian Koch, chief reporter for the Abendzeitung newspaper. ‘He reminds me of Andres Iniesta, a very intelligent and creative player. He can also score and assist, which makes him a complete player.’

Fellow German football expert Heiko Niedderer, who has worked at BILD for 20 years covering the national team, says: ‘He’s one of the best offensive players we have had. We have the two of them, Musiala and Wirtz.

‘They are both pretty special but Wirtz is maybe even more complete now. He can do everything. He is really great on the ball, a great shooter, creating chances. He has developed really well.’

The 22-year-old scored 16 goals and assisted 14 in the season just gone, having registered 18 goals and 19 assists in the campaign before, when he was the star man as Leverkusen went unbeaten to win an against-the-odds Bundesliga title – the first in their history – and a German Cup to boot.

He made 6.4 dribbles per 90 minutes (Szoboszlai, who plays in the same position, is on 1.48). He is adept off the ball, too, and won possession in his team’s final third more than any other Bundesliga player this term.

As a character, Wirtz is described as quiet and down to earth. He is one of 10 siblings born to Hanz and Karin, and his sister Juliane plays for Werder Bremen’s women’s team.

‘He is a quiet guy, not like a loud speaker,’ says a source who has spent time with Wirtz. ‘He is cleverer than you think, only speaks when he wants to. He is a cool guy.’

Earlier this year, a video was shared widely in Germany of him ranking different types of potato, which went viral online. Wirtz was irked by the fact non-football fans would now describe him as ‘potato boy’ for his dry, dead-pan Cole Palmer-like delivery.

He has been with his girlfriend Aaliyah, a model, since 2022 but the pair keep their relationship out of the public eye. He is big mates with Jeremie Frimpong, whose move from Leverkusen to Liverpool was announced earlier this month. ‘I am with Jeremie almost every day off,’ Wirtz said last year. He also likes water sports.

With his father as his agent, most of his moves tend to be career-led rather than money-driven. He would have earned more by going to Bayern Munich this summer, for example, but had his heart set on Liverpool and has already been to the Cheshire area on a house-hunting mission.

‘I must say I was quite surprised he chose Liverpool, we all expected he would go to Bayern,’ adds Niedderer. ‘But it is very good that he has stepped out of his comfort zone. Bayern would have been a smaller step, Liverpool is a big step. I think it will do him really well.’

A move to Bayern would have upset Leverkusen fans, although he has form for making unpopular moves given his youth club Cologne are rivals of Leverkusen and their mega-rich Bayer empire, funded by the German pharmaceutical giant.

In the game itself, Mail Sport kept an eye trained on Wirtz’s every move.

His head was always on the swivel even when the ball was nowhere near him, assessing what space there was to exploit should he gain possession – and he was let down by his team-mates at times.

His headed goal on Wednesday night was not a typical Wirtz finish, but it was the ingenuity of an acute give-and-go followed by a nice dart into a dangerous area that created it.

His work rate off the ball and speed were also a shock and may not come across on TV.

Wirtz’s best moment came with his first touch. Out on the left with an easy backwards pass on to recycle the ball, he instead played a searching cross to the back post.

The ball did not look on and maybe striker Nick Woltemade felt the same as he could not convert.

While 40-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored the winner, let the game pass him by with few touches, Wirtz constantly caused danger. And that cross was Kevin De Bruyne-like, making something out of nothing.

Funnily enough, De Bruyne also came from the Bundesliga with a big reputation in Germany but with vast quarters of the English media calling him overpriced. Rival fans might say the same thing now Wirtz’s move is wrapped up.

But as De Bruyne departs our league a six-time English champion, no one is talking about the price tag.

As former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp once said: ‘It’s not so important what people think when you come in… it’s much more important what people think when you leave.’