Liverpool have been told that summer signing Florian Wirtz “would definitely” have signed for Real Madrid in the summer on one condition.
Before joining Liverpool, Wirtz had established himself as one of the best young attacking midfielders in Europe. Last season, he grabbed ten goals and 14 assists in his 31 Bundesliga appearances for Bayer Leverkusen.
Wirtz was on the market in the summer as he had his heart set on joining former Leverkusen head coach Xabi Alonso in leaving.
Initially, Wirtz looked likely to join Bayern Munich or Manchester City, though Liverpool eventually fended off competition to sign the 22-year-old for a then-British record fee of £116m.
This was a huge statement signing for Liverpool, though Wirtz has struggled for his new club. He has been taken out of the firing line as he is without a goal involvement in his ten Premier League appearances.
Wirtz will be hoping to make an impact for Liverpool on Tuesday night as Arne Slot’s side host Real Madrid in the Champions League group stages.
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Ahead of this game, Bayer Leverkusen CEO Fernando Carro has claimed that their “top priority” was to extend his contract in the summer.
“The Wirtz family and Florian knew that extending his contract was our top priority. We were very cautious with salaries during the summer transfers,” Carro said in an interview with Sport1.
“But we would have been prepared to make an exception for Florian. We were prepared to push the boundaries and give everything to extend his contract.
“And for a while, it looked like it might work out. In the end, Florian decided for himself what he wanted to do. The parents are his advisors, and I think it’s good that they fully respect Florian’s wishes.”
Carro has also claimed that Wirtz was keen to join Real Madrid over Liverpool and “would have definitely gone” had Alonso “made an offer”.
“He’s someone who wants to win the Champions League,” Carro added.
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“We thought that with this team, we would have been capable of going further than we did. He saw that we had won the Bundesliga title, but winning the Champions League with Bayer Leverkusen might be more difficult.
“He would definitely have gone to Madrid if Xabi had made the offer.
“But Xabi has less say at Madrid than he does with us. One of Alonso’s greatest strengths was his ability to work with our scouting department to define who needed to be in our team. Florentino Perez decides the transfers, not Xabi Alonso.”
