Liverpool are awaiting an opportunity to sign Florian Wirtz after talks with the Bayer Leverkusen attacking midfielder, and a decision could accelerate rapidly.
Wirtz and his parents flew into the UK earlier this week to meet with the Liverpool officials and discuss a potential move to Anfield.
It comes with the Reds among the clubs hoping to sign Leverkusen’s No. 10 this summer, with reports in both England and Germany confirming their intentions.
The Times‘ Paul Joyce has explained that Liverpool will “make a strong pitch” to Wirtz should he “show an inclination to move to the Premier League.”
Liverpool’s belief is that the 22-year-old would prefer a switch to Bayern Munich, but Bild‘s Christian Falk claims they are at least ahead of Man City in the running.
Progress could be made in talks over a deal for Wirtz upon the conclusion of the Bundesliga campaign on Saturday, when Leverkusen visit Mainz knowing they are already guaranteed to finish second.
And new comments from Bayern sporting director Max Eberl suggest that they could look to bring the playmaker in before the Club World Cup next month.
Bayern would want Wirtz for Club World Cup
“There’s a lot of speculation in Munich, and everyone has their own opinion. Of course, that doesn’t make things easy,” he told reporters on Friday, as reported by the Liverpool Echo.
“With the Club World Cup, this summer is obviously special. I try to ignore it as much as possible.”
Bayern will face Auckland City, Boca Juniors and Benfica in Group C of the Club World Cup and, as with Real Madrid and Trent Alexander-Arnold, would be eager to involve Wirtz if possible.
That comes with up to £97 million in prize money available for each club competing.
While no guarantee that they will therefore sign the player, the opportunity to do so in a pre-tournament transfer window running from June 1 to 10 could force a decision over his future – be it Bayern, Liverpool or elsewhere.
Speaking to SPORT1, Eberl directly responded to Wirtz’s trip to the UK, saying: “What can I say? Florian Wirtz is free to visit Liverpool, Manchester, Madrid, or whatever with his family and friends.”
“For now, he’s under contract with Bayer Leverkusen,” he continued.
“We can’t let all the speculation – ‘agreement reached’, ‘contract signed’ – get to us. We’re doing our job and perhaps know the facts better than all the speculation going on around us.”
Leverkusen are reported to value Wirtz at €150 million (£126.4m), though interested parties would almost certainly look to negotiate that down.
