Florian Wirtz is now set to become the most expensive Premier League player in the history of the competition. According to multiple reports, Liverpool are prepared to pay a fee that will comfortably surpass the record transfer fee paid by an English club, which is currently the €121 million Chelsea paid to sign Enzo Fernández in 2023. According to the Athletic, Liverpool are prepared to pay €134m for the Bayer Leverkusen star, but Fabrizio Romano reports that the deal will likely reach as high as €150m. Either way, Liverpool will likely be signing a player that will cost considerably more than their most expensive signing ever – Darwin Núñez’s €85m move from Benfica in 2023. As such, many fans of the club and their rivals will be intrigued to see what all the fuss is about.
How good is Wirtz and why are Liverpool so intent on signing the young midfielder? To find out, let’s take a look at some stats.
The most valuable player in the Bundesliga
First things first: we need to talk about Wirtz’s remarkable market value. Standing tall at €140m, Transfermarkt’s evaluation of the player comes in at an almost identical figure to the player’s real-life value. To no great surprise, the Leverkusen star is the joint most valuable player in the German top-flight, whilst also being the joint most valuable player in the German national team. In terms of his global ranking, only three U23 players can lay claim to higher market values – Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka, Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham and Lamine Yamal of Barcelona. And as we can see in the graphic above, only Bayern Munich star Jamal Musiala has gained more market value than Wirtz since the start of 2021.
An incredible source of goals and assists
To no great surprise, Wirtz’s main attributes as an attacking midfielder are his goals and assists for Leverkusen. And in this regard very few have been able to match the young No.10 since he hit the ground running with the Bundesliga side. As we can see in the graph above, Wirtz has bagged 81 goals and assists in 140 Bundesliga games, ranking him fifth among all players in the last four seasons. However, a closer look at the table shows that all four players above Wirtz are either clear No.9s or players that have at times played as forwards. As such, the only other attacking midfielders on the list are Leroy Sané (0.52 goals and assists per 90) and Jonas Hofmann (0.60), who come in below the future Liverpool signing.
Is Wirtz better than Musiala?
Eagle-eyed readers would have noted that Bayern star Musiala wasn’t on that top 10 list and when we draw a direct comparison between him and his compatriot at Leverkusen it makes for some interesting reading. To no great surprise, Musiala has been nothing short of remarkable at Bayern, bagging 61 goals and 39 assists in 203 games for the club. However, his average of 0.74 goal contributions per 90 minutes actually comes in a little short of Wirtz’s record at Leverkusen, which stands at 0.77 per 90. As we can see in the graphic above, Musiala has slightly more goals than Wirtz, but the future Liverpool player has far more assists and as such beats his German team mate in this regard.
The perfect Liverpool playmaker
Indeed, it will likely be Wirtz’s ability to create chances for his team mates that has led to Liverpool paying so much for his services. While the Anfield club have a clear goalscorer in Mohamed Salah, they do lack a genuine No.10 capable of threading passes in the final third. This is evident for all to see when we compare Wirtz’s league assists in the last five seasons to that of the current Liverpool squad. While the German international hasn’t quite matched Salah’s total of 58 league assists, he far surpasses the club’s midfielders, with Dominik Szoboszlai bagging almost half as many in that period of time. As such, Wirtz may be the perfect playmaking solution to Arne Slot’s problems next season.
