Liverpool have been told that summer signing Florian Wirths will “definitely” sign with Real Madrid in the summer conditionally.
Before joining Liverpool, Wirtz had established himself as one of the best young attacking midfielders in Europe. Last season, he played 31 Bundesliga games for Bayer Leverkusen, scoring 10 goals and providing 14 assists.
Wirtz was put up for sale in the summer as he was set on joining departing former Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso.
Wirths was initially linked with a move to either Bayern Munich or Manchester City, but in the end Liverpool fended off competition and signed the 22-year-old for £116 million, a record fee in British history at the time.
This was a huge statement for Liverpool, although Wirtz has struggled at his new club. He appeared in 10 Premier League games but failed to score a goal and was left out of action.
Wirtz will be hoping to make an impact on Liverpool when they host Arne Slott’s Real Madrid in the Champions League group stage on Tuesday night.
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Ahead of the game, Bayer Leverkusen CEO Fernando Caro insisted extending his contract in the summer was a “top priority”.
“The Wirtz family and Florian knew that extending his contract was our top priority. We were very cautious about his salary during the summer transfer,” Caro said in an interview with Sport1.
“But we would have been prepared to make an exception for Florian. We were ready to push the boundaries and do everything we can to extend his contract.”
“And for a while it looked like things were going to go well. In the end, Florian decided for himself what he wanted to do. His parents are his advisors, and I think it’s good that they fully respect Florian’s wishes.”
Caro also claimed that Wirtz was keen to move to Real Madrid rather than Liverpool and “definitely would have gone” had Alonso made an “offer”.
“He is a player who wants to win the Champions League,” Caro added.
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“I thought that with this team we could go further than ever before. He saw us winning the Bundesliga title, but winning the Champions League with Bayer Leverkusen might be more difficult.”
“If Xavi had made an offer, he would definitely have gone to Madrid.
“But Xavi has less say at Madrid than we do. One of Alonso’s greatest strengths was his ability to work with our scouting department to define who we need in the team. It is Florentino Perez who makes the transfer decisions, not Xabi Alonso.”
