Florian Wirtz: Liverpool's £116m Dilemma and Bayern's Interest
Florian Wirtz walked into Anfield as a statement. A British record fee at the time. A playmaker with 122 goal contributions for Bayer Leverkusen. A 23-year-old meant to define Liverpool’s next era.
A year on, the conversation around him sounds very different.
From Bundesliga superstar to Premier League puzzle
At Leverkusen, Wirtz ran games. Across 197 appearances he produced 57 goals and 65 assists, numbers that put him among Europe’s most dangerous creators. Liverpool paid £116m to import that production and imagination into the Premier League.
They have only seen it in flashes.
Seven goals. Eleven assists. Fifty-five games. Roughly one goal involvement every three appearances – respectable on paper, but a long way short of the relentless output that made him such a coveted asset in Germany.
The contrast has fuelled the noise. And the critics.
Jamie Carragher has been one of the loudest voices, arguing that Wirtz is already operating at his ceiling in a Liverpool shirt and that level, in his view, does not justify a place in the side. Gary Neville, after an anonymous display on the opening weekend of the season, claimed the German “needs a rocket up him”.
The debate around Wirtz has become a weekly talking point. Inside and outside Anfield.
A move back to Germany on his mind?
Now the speculation has a clear focal point: Bayern Munich.
The Bundesliga champions pushed hard for Wirtz last summer before Liverpool won the race. That interest has not gone away. According to a source speaking to Football Insider, Wirtz would be keen to leave Anfield for Bayern next year if a concrete opportunity appears.
“The main problem for Wirtz is that he has seemingly struggled to adapt to the Premier League,” the source said. “He hasn’t got to grips with the physicality or the tempo of things; that’s why most of his better performances for Liverpool have been in European competitions.”
From that vantage point, the logic of a return to Germany is obvious. A familiar league. A style of play tailored to his strengths. A club in Bayern that already know exactly what he can do at his best.
“I’m sure, if an offer was to come in, then he’d want to join Bayern Munich because he would be a much better fit for the way they play,” the source added, pointing to the comfort and confidence Wirtz enjoyed in the Bundesliga.
Under Vincent Kompany, Bayern are tracking the situation closely. Their admiration has not dimmed just because his first season in England has been bumpy. If his form fails to hit the heights Liverpool expect this campaign, his situation will only become more intriguing from the German side of the fence.
Liverpool’s stance: not for sale – and not yet for debate
Inside Liverpool, the mood is very different.
Sources have told TEAMtalk the club have no plans to entertain an exit for Wirtz and remain convinced he can grow into a cornerstone of their new project under Andoni Iraola. There is no suggestion the hierarchy are actively looking to sell, nor any indication they are preparing for a 2025 auction.
Graeme Bailey reports that some figures at the club do harbour doubts over whether Wirtz can ever reach the “extraordinary” levels once expected of him. That internal questioning has not translated into a willingness to cut their losses.
The plan, as it stands, is simple: give Iraola the season to work with him. Build around his strengths. See if the player Liverpool thought they were signing from Leverkusen finally emerges on a consistent basis.
Liverpool’s position is strengthened by the length of Wirtz’s contract and their broader strategy. The Merseyside club are understood to be looking at 2027 as the earliest realistic point to consider a departure, and then only if the project and the player have clearly moved in different directions.
A divisive talent caught between expectation and reality
The numbers paint one picture; the context, another.
Wirtz’s output for Liverpool, while underwhelming compared to his Leverkusen days, actually betters that of Martin Ødegaard over the Norwegian’s first 55 games for Arsenal. Ødegaard needed time to adjust, to find his rhythm and role. Liverpool believe Wirtz deserves the same runway.
His supporters inside the club point to adaptation issues, tactical shifts and the pressure of his fee. Some around him argue he has tried too hard to justify the price tag, overplaying in certain moments, while being let down by “scared” teammates not always showing for the ball or taking responsibility around him.
His detractors see something else: a marquee signing yet to grab games by the throat in the way a £116m playmaker should in the Premier League.
That tension – between patience and impatience, between potential and production – is what makes his situation so combustible. Every quiet performance adds fuel. Every flash of quality feels like a promise that still hasn’t quite been kept.
Bayern wait. Liverpool push. Wirtz stands at the crossroads.
So the lines are drawn.
Bayern Munich, still admirers, are watching. Liverpool, publicly unmoved, are backing their investment and their manager. Wirtz, at 23, sits in the middle of it all, trying to solve the Premier League puzzle while the biggest club in his homeland lurks in the background.
If this season unlocks the Leverkusen version of Florian Wirtz, Liverpool’s stance will look vindicated and Bayern’s hopes will fade. If it doesn’t, that £116m question will not go away – and the pull of Munich will only grow stronger.
