Liverpool brought back Florian Wirtz with a record price of 116 million pounds, leading to doubts about the young German player. But in fact this is a less risk transfer that Liverpool has calculated very carefully.
Eight years ago, Jurgen Klopp also liked a young Leverkusen midfielder Julian Brandt. But then Director of Michael Edwards and the recruiting team of Fenway Sports Group convinced Klopp to transfer attention to Mohamed Salah.
Now looking back, Brandt has a pretty successful career but Salah has an extraordinary career. And when Florian Wirtz docked Anfield this summer, Arne Slot also followed the transfer motto that Fenway Sports Group had previously targeted Salah. When Liverpool made a blockbuster, it was because they had the basis to believe that this player would grow strongly.
A few years ago, Klopp revealed a specific transfer criterion in Liverpool: “The owners want to buy 20 -year -old players but have to own the experience of playing 200 matches. That is too difficult.”
In fact, FSG targets the 23 -year -old players with 200 matches. Look back to see that this formula is applied quite standard. Wirtz is only 22 years old but has 197 clubs not to mention 31 caps of Germany. Jeremie Frimpong joined Liverpool at the age of 24 with 245 club matches and 13 matches in the Netherlands. Milos Kerkez, Liverpool's third largest contract in the summer, had 181 matches if combined both at the club and Hungary.
Further, Dominik Szoboszlai came to Liverpool at the age of 22 with experience playing 216 club matches. Alexis Mac Allister at the age of 24 with 213 matches, Cody Gakpo at the age of 23 with 195 matches, Sadio Mane at the age of 24 with 197 matches, Salah at the age of 25 with 252 matches, Andy Robertson at the age of 22 with 202 matches, Roberto Firmino at the age of 23 with 191 matches, Diogo Jota at the age of 23 with 213 matches, Ryan Gravenberch with 181 matches at the age of 21. Giorgi Mamardashvili has now played 201 club matches.
The recruitment policy of FSG is aimed at the players whose career is still ahead but has gained enough experience at a young age. The number of 200 matches for a young player, equivalent to 5 or 6 years of playing in the first team, is a guarantee for Liverpool to make accurate assessments of the goals they are interested in. Robertson, Jota, Mac Allister, Mane or Kerkez have a Premier League platform when coming to Liverpool. And others have the experience of fighting in the remaining 4 championships.
Notably, Liverpool is not their second club, but maybe the second, third or even fifth club. That explains why Liverpool has a high success rate in the transfer. A player who comes to Liverpool must have a thick record, quality and minimize risks, even though he is only 22 years old. Of course Liverpool also has failed transfer cases, typically Darwin Nunez, but it is necessary to know the Uruguayan striker is the choice largely in favor of Klopp's subjectivity.
Liverpool's transfer policy is in contrast to Chelsea and MU. At Chelsea under Todd Boehly, they prioritized recruiting new young players in the potential form without verifying the achievements and thickness of the competition. And MU used to be a period towards elderly stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Edinson Cavani, Alexis Sanchez, Raphael Varane and Casemiro. What anyone can see, the success rate in Chelsea and MU transfer is much lower than Liverpool
Liverpool remains loyal to their strategy. A few special cases such as Van Dijk have proven the long -standing form. Federico Chiesa does not contribute much but does not cost much. With Wataru Endo, Klopp must convince PSG to bring back the 31 -year -old midfielder.
So the Florian Wirtz blockbuster is actually a low -risk mission of Liverpool. The young German player meets all strict transfer criteria that FSG has set.
