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Beth Lindop
Liverpool have agreed to sign Bayer Leverkusen playmaker Florian Wirtz in a deal that could rise to a British transfer record fee of £116 million (€136m), sources told ESPN.
Liverpool saw two bids rejected by Leverkusen — who had initially wanted £126m for Wirtz — before accepting an initial £100m payment, plus bonuses of up to £16m.
Sources told ESPN that should those add-ons be triggered, Wirtz’s transfer fee would surpass that of Moisés Caicedo, who joined Chelsea from Brighton & Hove Albion in the summer of 2023.
Wirtz, who was No. 2 on the ESPN 100 list of attacking midfielders, will become Liverpool’s club-record signing, overtaking the £85m acquisition of Darwin Núñez in 2022.
Liverpool saw off major competition for the 22-year-old’s signature from Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Real Madrid, with senior Anfield figures hopeful the player could have the same transformational impact as Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker since they joined in 2018.
Wirtz will become Liverpool’s second signing of the summer following the arrival of former Leverkusen teammate Jeremie Frimpong. Arne Slot’s side are also interested in Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez.