Florian Wirtz moves to Liverpool FC – a huge blow for Bayern Munich

It was no longer a secret that Florian Wirtz would be playing for Liverpool FC starting next season. There were no terms and conditions between him and the club to be clarified, only those between the selling and receiving clubs. Leverkusen and the English record champions needed some time to agree on the transfer fee, which, taken together, makes Wirtz a record transfer – in three respects.

With a fixed payment of around 140 million euros, plus the prospect of ten more if the club is extremely successful with Wirtz, the Rhinelander is not only the most expensive transfer of a player ever to leave the Bundesliga. No other footballer to move to the English Premier League – and no German, for that matter – has been more expensive. The fact that expense and prestige don't necessarily correlate is demonstrated by the previous record holder in the Premier League: Portuguese Enzo Fernández, whom Chelsea FC paid 121 million euros a year ago, exudes much, but not glamour.

However, things are different for Wirtz, who has committed to Liverpool until 2030. Besides the Spaniard Lamine Yamal, there are few more exciting players who can be said to have the majority of their development ahead of them. Anyone who has observed the 22-year-old over the years has been reminded of Zinedine Zidane, with his brilliant ideas combined with a cast-iron robustness that never shies away from a challenge. He was predestined for the direct, fast-paced style of Liverpool FC and its coach Arne Slot , who ultimately won the young man over to the game with his ideas.

For months, FC Bayern Munich had considered themselves in pole position to secure the services of the young genius – before a trip to England for negotiations thwarted everything. While his father would have liked to see the boy in Munich, coach Vincent Kompany's ideas ultimately failed to convince the German international. He may also have been concerned that he wouldn't get along as well with his teammate Jamal Musiala as some had hoped. The fact that two exceptional footballers don't necessarily guarantee a harmonious flow of play is a realization that only football laypeople would find absurd.

And so, Munich finds itself the loser in the tug-of-war for the most talented young German footballer. They lost, even though they were willing to push the financial limit, even exceed it. Ultimately, for Bayern, it wasn't just about a world-class player, but also about their own self-image: Anyone who's anyone in German football has to be under contract with FC Bayern.

Exceptions to this unwritten rule include Günter Netzer, Bernd Schuster, and Rudi Völler; even Mesut Özil can take credit for having become a world-class player without having helped FC Bayern. And now Florian Wirtz, although it cannot be ruled out that this is ultimately a stroke of luck for Bayern: A five-year contract with Wirtz could easily have cost Bayern a quarter of a billion euros, including the transfer fee. Uli Hoeness, the Bayern grandee, even joked, with reference to German fiscal policy, where debt is labeled as special assets, that Bayern would need such an asset to finance Wirtz.

Nevertheless, the rejection of Munich weighs heavily – so much so that it increases the pressure on Bayern's sporting director, Max Eberl, enormously. So far, Eberl hasn't been able to present a player who delivers what Bayern need most, in addition to the expected top performance: flair, charisma, advertising impact. One only has to look at how much effort they put into marketing Musiala, the primus inter pares . They had him play the piano in a tailcoat, conveying the message: Here sits the Horowitz of football.

After Wirtz's thwarting, Bayern were hoping to sign Spanish winger Nico Williams, who would have met the Munich team's requirements not only athletically. However, the Spanish international opted for FC Barcelona.

In any case, Bayern's sporting director has said goodbye to the Club World Cup. Max Eberl has traveled to Munich to push ahead with transfer planning. After all, a complete overhaul of the squad is imminent, a project as delicate as it is ambitious, and perhaps Eberl will be inspired by what Wirtz said upon his arrival at Liverpool: "I wanted to join one of the top three clubs in the world, and in my opinion, Liverpool was one of them." Not being named among those three is painful for the Munich team. Especially when this statement comes from a German international.

The situation appears quite different at rival Liverpool: Coach Arne Slot's club was awarded the contract, despite initially being virtually absent from speculation. Even when Wirtz headed to England, many observers, including those who consider themselves notoriously well-informed at FC Bayern, still believed he wanted to negotiate with Manchester City. That would have made perfect footballing sense, as City is looking for a successor to Kevin De Bruyne.

A recent statement by DFB director Rudi Völler, who still maintains close ties to Leverkusen, where he served for many years as sporting director, seemed all the more interesting: Wirtz had already been leaning toward taking a closer look at Liverpool months ago. A statement that could also have been intended as a dig at Bayern, who had intensified their efforts at every stage while Leverkusen was still well positioned in the championship race , thus causing irritation.

Leverkusen, however, harbors no resentment toward Wirtz. Simon Rolfes, the sporting director, bid him farewell with warm words: Wirtz had done an enormous amount for Leverkusen, and they wished him all the best. This generosity is understandable: Leverkusen has never had a better time than with Wirtz, the playmaker who brought them their first championship title.