Liverpool agree £116m deal with Bayer Leverkusen for Florian Wirtz

Liverpool have agreed a club-record deal to sign Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen. The Premier League champions will pay a guaranteed £100m for the coveted Germany international, plus potential add-ons of £16m that would make Wirtz the most expensive British transfer of all time.

Richard Hughes, Liverpool’s sporting director, has been engaged in negotiations for the attacking midfielder for several weeks and a deal was finally struck on Friday morning. Leverkusen had wanted €150m (£127.6m) for the 22-year-old, who had also attracted interest from Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Real Madrid, but made it clear to the German club that Anfield was his preferred destination. He will undergo a medical in the coming days and finalise the transfer once the window reopens next week. Personal terms have already been agreed, with Wirtz understood to have rejected more lucrative offers from elsewhere.

Liverpool made it clear throughout negotiations that they would not meet Leverkusen’s asking price but, after settling on a guaranteed £100m, the past few days have centred on the extent and the structure of the add-ons. Wirtz will become a British record signing, eclipsing Chelsea’s £115m purchase of Moisés Caicedo, if sustained success at the highest level activates the extra £16m.

The fee will comfortably be a record investment by the club. ­Liverpool’s previous record transfer was the £85m deal that brought Darwin Núñez to Anfield from Benfica in June 2022. The champions hope to recoup most of that sum this summer by selling the Uruguay international, who has interest from the Saudi Pro League and European clubs.

Liverpool’s ability to fund the Wirtz deal has been made possible thanks to frugal spending in the previous three transfer windows. Federico Chiesa, another forward who could leave this summer, was the club’s only incoming before Arne Slot’s debut season as head coach for £10m plus £2m in add-ons from Juventus. The club’s faith in the squad rebuilt by Jürgen Klopp was vindicated as Slot’s team won a record-equalling 20th league title with four matches to spare.

Liverpool consider Wirtz a world-class and potentially transformative talent. His signing is, therefore, in keeping with the approach that saw Alisson Becker and Virgil van Dijk bought for then record transfer fees, and not a departure in transfer strategy by owners Fenway Sports Group.

The club had expected Wirtz to join Bayern, or possibly remain with Leverkusen, but the player’s desire for a fresh challenge outside Germany and his talks with Slot tilted the fight in their favour.

City claim they pulled out of a deal for Wirtz due to the overall costs involved in signing the attacking ­midfielder, who can play across the front line, on a five-year contract. Reports in Germany, however, have suggested Wirtz was unconvinced about City due to doubts over Pep Guardiola’s long-term future at the club.

Hughes also remains in talks with his former club Bournemouth over the signing of left-back Milos Kerkez, who is valued at £45m. Liverpool have already signed Jeremie Frimpong from Leverkusen for £29.5m while the Georgia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili will complete his move from Valencia following last summer’s £29m deal. Liverpool have so far sold Caoimhín Kelleher to Brentford for a fee that could rise to £18m and made £10m from allowing Trent Alexander-Arnold to join Real Madrid 29 days before his contract was due to expire. There will be further outgoings during Liverpool’s ambitious summer revamp.

Meanwhile, the former Arsenal midfielder and Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst is set to join Arne Slot’s backroom staff as a replacement for John Heitinga. Van Bronckhorst has been out of work since being sacked by Besiktas in November and has extensive coaching experience with Feyenoord, Slot’s former club, the Chinese Super League side Guangzhou and Rangers, whom he led to the 2022 Europa League final.

The 50-year-old was sacked by Rangers later that year after a poor start to the 2022-23 campaign. Heitinga was appointed head coach of Ajax last month on a two-year contract.