Liverpool went all out in the summer transfer window. The Reds sought to bolster Arne Slot’s title-winning squad and brought in some exciting new signings for big money.
Alexander Isak’s protracted move from Newcastle United was straightforward from a Liverpool point of view. They were able to pay the fee and the player wanted to join Liverpool and only Liverpool.
Not every move was so simple. Liverpool faced competition for some of their targets, in one case from a fellow European giant with one significant advantage over the Merseyside club
Bayern Munich usually get their man – but not always, as Liverpool proved
Young German talents join Bayern Munich. That’s the way it’s been for decades and it doesn’t matter where they’re from or who they play for. Bayern are the team at the top of the mountain, where hopes and dreams and cash tend to win out.
Attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz had that path available to him but ultimately shunned Bayern, signing for the Premier League champions to the surprise of many in Germany who thought they’d seen the story unfold hundreds of times before.
Wirtz made his name and quickly established a legacy at Bayer Leverkusen, where he won the Bundesliga with Xabi Alonso’s unbeaten team in 2023/24 alongside fellow Liverpool acquisition Jeremie Frimpong.
Experienced midfielder Robert Andrich was in that team too and has admitted that he tried to persuade Wirtz to move to Liverpool instead of lining up in opposition for the Bavarian giants.
“I wanted [the move abroad] and I told the Bayern boys that too,” 31-year-old Andrich told BILD via Sport Witness. “I’m happy for him that he took the step. I wouldn’t have thought that he would dare to take the step abroad.”
It was certainly an unusual decision for a German player at the age of 22. Wirtz was rated as one of the most in-demand players throughout the summer transfer window and the option to stay in Germany but join a club capable of competing in the final rounds of the Champions League must have been tempting.
Young, effective and already established in the national team, Wirtz is exactly the kind of player Bayern like to hoover up and it’s understood that the hierarchy were shocked when it didn’t come to pass.
Wirtz and Andrich combined to help drive Leverkusen’s incredible unbeaten Bundesliga season. The notorious near-missers powered their way to the league title, ending the season unbeaten not only in the league but as DFB-Pokal winners too.
They nearly went all the way in the Europa League, too, but were denied by a spectacular hat-trick from Atalanta’s former Everton forward Ademola Lookman.
Wirtz has taken his time to get going on Merseyside, not helped by Liverpool’s faltering form as a team. The German has started 16 of the Reds’ 21 Premier League matches and has begun to find his feet with more eye-catching performances and a couple of league goals to his name.
