If Florian Wirtz signs a club-record contract with Liverpool, he will become just the seventh player to play for both the Reds and Bayer Leverkusen, quickly following in Jeremie Frimpong’s footsteps.
The Germany international has expressed his desire to join Arne Slot’s team, but a deal to bring him to Anfield has not yet been finalized. Liverpool’s most recent offer for his services is £113 million, and negotiations are still ongoing.
It makes sense that fans are thrilled about the possibility of the Reds acquiring one of the best players in European football, including a former Leverkusen and Liverpool player who is now a prominent Bundesliga analyst!
The Reds signed former Netherlands international Erik Meijer on a free transfer from the Bundesliga team 26 years ago this summer, marking the first transfer between the two teams.
After hanging up his boots, the 55-year-old, who only played for Liverpool for a season and a half and scored twice in 27 games, has become one of Germany’s most prominent pundits.
He has unavoidably kept a close eye on Wirtz’s progress at his previous club. Additionally, he believes the German is prepared to succeed in the Premier League right away.
“Oh, I’m so excited. He will fit in directly, really! Don’t worry!” Meijer told the ECHO in an exclusive interview. “But I’m also really happy that he made a choice to go somewhere else, not to go to Bayern Munich.
“That would be the easy step. And to find out ‘how good am I in world football’, then you have to go step up and Liverpool is a big step up.
“We saw that when they met in the Champions League against each other (this season). Liverpool is a big step up for him and I’m very curious to see how good Flo is in the Premier League.
“I think he is (ready to move to the Premier League). He’s not somebody who is thinking too much about which steps to take.
“I just see him more like a kid who just wants a ball, a pair of football shoes, and goes on a grass field and plays some football.
“That’s the way he is, and he makes it look so very easy. Yes, it is good to take the step and also take a step to another competition.
“He is a champion of the Bundesliga, he won the cup in Germany, so then it’s good to test yourself in another league.
“In my opinion, he will be a diamond in the Premier League as well.”
At first, Liverpool believed that the playmaker would remain in Germany, and Bayern Munich had been the front-runner to sign Wirtz.
Meijer, however, is not shocked that Wirtz chose to join Anfield over the Bavarian powerhouses.
He remarked, “I’m not really surprised that he chose Liverpool.” “In the past few years, we’ve seen more players who everyone assumed would join Bayern Munich leave for other teams.
Munich’s charm has somewhat faded. That may be related to the fact that they haven’t won the Champions League or anything else internationally in the past few years.
Additionally, it’s highly intriguing for young athletes to travel overseas. It’s a different culture, a different competition, and, in my opinion, the money is also crucial. In England, the payment will be excellent.
Leverkusen has set an asking price of £126 million for Wirtz, while Liverpool’s most recent offer of £113 million is already a club record.
Even though it’s unclear if Wirtz will be able to adjust to the physical demands of the Premier League, Meijer admits that the high transfer fee is necessary to acquire exceptional talent.
“He’s the Bundesliga’s biggest prospect, but that’s a ridiculous amount of money,” he said. In the Bundesliga, Musiala and Wirtz are the two diamonds.
“He’s young, talented, and possesses unique skills. He also had some incredible seasons at Leverkusen when he was younger.”
“I’m interested in how well he adjusts to the Premier League’s tempo, alertness, and hardness.
“He is familiar with every stadium in the Bundesliga, as well as his opponents, weaknesses, and strengths. Now, he enters a new competition with players who may have more experience and better defenders.
I’m interested to see his response to this. Someone must pay a very special price to acquire him because he is on a unique level.
There has also been discussion regarding Wirtz’s likely position at Liverpool, including whether he would play off the left or as a false nine or as a number 10 in place of Dominik Szoboszlai.
When expressing his opinion that Wirtz is “perfect” for Liverpool, Meijer cites the player’s defensive work ethic and maintains that the German must play as a number 10 behind a striker.
“He can play from the left side, but he has a more flexible role at Leverkusen as the 10,” he stated. He enjoys coming in from the left and in again.
“But I think his best position will be when he’s free to play behind a striker, that’s a strong man in front.
“I’m curious who will be that one next year. Or that (Arne) Slot is going to change the system a little bit and play with two in the front and then with Wirtz short behind those two.
“He was very effective and very good with (Patrik) Schick as a striker or (Victor) Boniface as a striker. So he always had somebody to go to.
“So, he plays the ball, gets it back and there’s an action reaction of the opponent. And that made him very strong.
“That made his number of assists and also his goals that he made. He needed that striker in front. I’m curious how Liverpool is going to do this.”
He continued: “He has unbelievable dribbling, his one against one, he’s very clever running between the lines and he can give the split pass to the striker or to somebody in front who he can put in on a one on one with the goalkeeper, that’s his abilities.
He has the ability to accept a free kick as well. He’s also constantly moving. In addition to his offensive efforts, he was also willing to put in incredible defensive effort under (Xabi) Alonso.
Of all the players on the field, he primarily ran the most kilometers and had an extremely high work ethic. He would be ideal for Liverpool.
After signing Wirtz, Liverpool is anticipated to remain in the market for a new center-forward, with Darwin Nunez, the club record signing, expected to leave.
Hugo Ekitike, a striker for Eintracht Frankfurt, has been linked to the Reds. Meijer thinks the 22-year-old, who scored 22 goals this season, could work well with Wirtz at Liverpool even though he is still raw.
Indeed, Ekitike is having a fantastic season. He was on loan, and the previous season was already good,” he said. He had an excellent season, and now he has a contract in Frankfurt, phwoar!
He possesses skills that would be useful at Liverpool as well. Technically speaking, Speed is at an extremely high level. He lacks a great deal of experience, that’s all.
“The last one and a half years he played all the matches at Frankfurt, so his level went up step by step and he was the main goalscorer at Frankfurt after Marmoush left to Manchester City.
“Everybody thought, oh, now Frankfurt is going to have problems, but Ekitike got better and better. He’s on a very good level.
“He has the abilities that fit into the team very well and fit into the system that Slot wants to play.
“He needs players who are technically brilliant, who have speed and who are tactically on a very high level to know where the spaces are. He plays that way.”