After weeks of negotiations, Liverpool have made a massive statement of intent by signing Bayer Leverkusen star Florian Wirtz.  

 The two clubs have agreed on an initial fee of £100 million for the German international. The deal could rise to around £116 million with add-ons, which would break the British transfer record. 

 Arne Slot has so far worked wonders with the squad bequeathed to him by Jürgen Klopp, with Federico Chiesa the only player to arrive in the previous two transfer windows. With the Reds having already landed Giorgi Mamardashvili and Jeremie Frimpong in the past few weeks, club captain Virgil van Dijk’s prediction of a ‘big summer’ appears to be bang on the money. 

 Wirtz arrives as one of the most highly thought of young talents in European football and has won the VDV (German equivalent of the PFA) Bundesliga Player of the Season award for the past two years. 

 On the latest episode of our Journo Insight show, we asked the Liverpool Echo’s LFC correspondent, Paul Gorst, for his thoughts on the Wirtz deal.  

“Liverpool have offered £114 million, £5 million up on the previous bid, which was turned down. 

“Wirtz will be on board for pre-season, which begins on July 7th, and obviously they’ve got a friendly with Preston later that week. He will be on board – literally – for the tour of Hong Kong and Japan. A lot of moving parts. It’s the biggest deal that Liverpool have ever struck. It’s an incredible amount of money, isn’t it? For anything, really – a business transaction, bringing a player to the club.  

“It’s new ground for Liverpool. Like I said, they’ve never gone anywhere near £100 million, let alone break through that barrier and then some.  

“It’s exciting when your club breaks their transfer record, particularly for someone who’s a young Bundesliga player of the year with all the traits that he’s got, the archetypal number 10 with a real work ethic to go with it. I’m so looking forward to seeing him play next season as a Liverpool player.”

REDMEN REACTS 

It’s official. The waiting is over. Florian Wirtz is a Red. It has been a long three weeks since the news broke that the 22-year-old favoured a move to Anfield. Hours and hours’ worth of YouTube compilations have been created, uploaded and watched, along with enough Wirtz ‘pizza’ charts to fill a Domino’s. Fan impatience has grown steadily since the announcement of fellow Leverkusen departee Jeremie Frimpong’s signature, but given the complexity and sheer size of the deal, it was imperative that Liverpool get this right. The club’s record transfer fee and the £100 million mark have both been smashed in one fell swoop. There will be no repeat of the accusations of failing to build from a position of strength that were levelled after Jürgen Klopp’s sole Premier League triumph. It cannot be overstated – this is one of the most exciting signings in the modern history of Liverpool Football Club. Over to you, Florian.