Xabi Alonso's verdict on Florian Wirtz speaks volumes as Liverpool close in on huge transfer

In Florian Wirtz, Liverpool are pursuing one of the best attacking midfielders in the world - and that's coming from Xabi Alonso, the man who knows the £126million-rated Bayer Leverkusen star better than anyone.

Wirtz, 22, has dazzled under the guidance of Alonso during the Spaniard's time at the helm in Germany. He was influential in the Leverkusen team that won their first ever German title under the Kop idol last year and has starred again this term, amassing 16 goals and 15 assists across 45 games in all competitions.

Those impressive returns are why the likes of Bayern Munich and Manchester City were courting the Germany star ahead of the summer transfer window, with the former even seen as the red-hot favourites to sign him.

But with Bayern conceding defeat in their bid to sign Wirtz over the weekend, Liverpool are now in pole position to land him.

And in what would be a huge statement of intent to their Premier League rivals, the Reds could even shell out a record fee to bolster Arne Slot's title-winning squad.

Alonso - who will become the new head coach of Real Madrid - is in no doubt over how good Wirtz is after working with the playmaker closely.

The Spaniard said earlier this month: "Flo is one of the top players in the world; he is world class. Flo has a very mature mind. The people around him, his parents, they want the best for him.

"They are in a very important moment of his career. Whatever he does, I am really close to Flo and I will be happy for him. Let's wait a little bit. It's normal in football that there are rumours, especially with such a special player.

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"There were rumours (in the past), there are rumours today and there will be rumours in the future. You need to deal with them and not take them too seriously."

While no formal agreement has yet been confirmed by either Liverpool or Leverkusen, the club president of Bayern Munich, Herbert Hainer, gave away that the transfer is likely to happen on Saturday.

He revealed: “Max Eberl [sporting director] informed me that Florian Wirtz is probably leaning towards Liverpool.”

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