The transfer of Florian Wirtz's record to Liverpool is being compared to a compatriot. It was the Kai Havertz deal to Chelsea in 2020 as the best young talent in Germany and attracted the attention from every big club across Europe.
Bayern Munich was very craving but did not meet the price that Leverkusen asked. Real Madrid also had financial difficulties due to the pandemic, so Chelsea jumped in and accepted a record price of 71 million pounds (91.3 million USD at the current exchange rate).
Do we feel familiar? Yes, that Wirtz itself with the transition from the Bundesliga to the Premier League. Man City is interested, but the 22 -year -old quickly fell in love with Liverpool. The long -time Bayern pursuer also withdrew. Real also did not mind, because the new coach Xabi Alonso understood what Wirtz needs.
Liverpool's inactivity in the previous transfer has allowed them to spend such a large amount of money on Wirtz. The gem of German football came to England as the most expensive player ever since the Havertz deal to Chelsea.
Wirtz joins Liverpool with a record breaking agreement if the surcharges in the transfer of £ 116 million are made. Wirtz will be the biggest player from a Bundesliga club and a record amount that a Premier League club spends on a player.
Those are clear similarities, but Liverpool hopes they are not like any more. In addition to scoring the decisive goal in the Champions League 2021 final with Man City, Havertz's time at Chelsea is not success.
Havertz, known for its elegance and technical qualities rather than physical strength, while Wirtz is a more active shadow player. Havertz is not the only German talent that is praised for the Premier League and disappointed.
Timo Werner also had difficulties at Chelsea and Leroy Sane's performance at Man City was increasingly unstable before he left in 2020. Further, Max Meyer – was once praised as the future heart of the German midfielder – who was sunk at Crystal Palace when he was only 22 years old.
Will Wirtz destroy that shipwreck trend? Of course, there is no shortage of German players who have come to England and develop strongly. Jurgen Klinsmann (Tottenham), Dietmar Hamann (Liverpool), Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Ilkay Gundogan (Man City), Pascal Gross (Brighton) and Per Mertacker (Arsenal) have both become the pillar of the club.
Liverpool sees Wirtz as a versatile and experienced attack star. He won a double Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal with Leverkusen, experiencing playing football in the Champions League and Germany. He also has the potential to increase value and Liverpool has shown that when they believe that players can really develop the team, they will invest a lot of money.
Now they hope Wirtz will look like Alisson and Virgil Van Dijk instead of Darwin Nunez, who is currently considered a disaster. “Wirtz is the best German football player today,” Hamann said. “He is not cheap, but the model helps the surrounding players play better. The difference between Havertz, Sane and Werner and Wirtz is the play of the clubs buying them.”
When Sane moved from Schalke to Man City for £ 37 million and was awarded the title of PFA's best young player in 2018, he seemed to be about to do great things. However, he was unexpectedly eliminated from Germany to the 2018 World Cup, and began to go down.
Sane's time at Etihad is not a failure. He scored 39 goals/135 matches and won the Premier League twice. But when he moved to Bayern in 2020, Pep Guardiola decided to make Sane's name from the plan.
Werner, Liverpool's goal before moving to Chelsea in 2020, also struggled in the Premier League due to lack of confidence. Werner scored 23 goals/89 matches in 2 seasons at Chelsea after coming at £ 50 million from RB Leipzig. But he repatriated two years later, with only half.
Havertz also suffered a long time of disappointment in both clubs. He did his job well in a position without really wanting to play. But his achievement is not worthy of the price and expectation when buying. That's why Liverpool and Wirtz were afraid of losing confidential when compared to Havertz.
