logo
Liverpool agrees to record $157M transfer for midfielder Florian Wirtz

Liverpool agrees to record $157M transfer for midfielder Florian Wirtz

Yahoo16 hours ago

Midfielder Florian Wirtz (L) totaled 16 goals and 15 assists over 45 appearances last season for Bayer Leverkusen. Photo by Christopher Neundorf/EPA-EFE
June 13 (UPI) -- Liverpool agreed to a potential record transfer fee of nearly $157 million for Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Florian Wirtz.
Sources told ESPN, The Athletic and Sky Sports about the agreement Friday. Wirtz is expected to sign a five-year deal with the Reds. If completed, Wirtz's pact, which features a guaranteed $135.2 million and $21.6 million in add-ons, would set a British transfer fee record.
Advertisement
Wirtz, 22, made his senior debut at Leverkusen in 2020. He totaled 18 goals and 20 assists over 49 appearances in 2023-24 en route to Bundesliga Player of the Season honors. Wirtz totaled 16 goals and 15 assists over 45 appearances last season.
Argentine midfielder Enzo Fernandez set the previous British transfer fee record when he joined Chelsea from Benfica in 2023.
The Reds were 25-4-9 this season en route to their first Premier League crown since 2019-20. They will take on EFL Championship club Preston in a friendly at 10 a.m. EDT July 13 in Preston, England.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Former Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag set to seal first transfer after new job
Former Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag set to seal first transfer after new job

Yahoo

time22 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Former Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag set to seal first transfer after new job

Erik ten Hag is expected to complete his first piece of transfer business since his appointment at Bayer Leverkusen. The former Manchester United head coach was confirmed as Xabi Alonso's replacement over the weekend. Advertisement Ten Hag had been out of work following his exit from United last October, but he has now returned to management after a seven-month exile. The Dutchman has signed a two-year contract at the BayArena. Speaking after his appointment was confirmed, Ten Hag, who will officially start his role on July 1, said: "I've come to Leverkusen to continue with the ambition shown in recent years. READ MORE: 'Young and exciting' - Bruno Fernandes gives verdict on Manchester United academy players READ MORE: Kobbie Mainoo transfer stance explained amid fresh Manchester United uncertainty "It's an attractive challenge to set up something together in this period of change and develop an ambitious team." Advertisement Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes added: "With Erik ten Hag, we have brought in an experienced coach with impressive success on the pitch. "With three league titles and two domestic cup wins, he and Ajax dominated Dutch football from 2018 to 2022. "And Erik demonstrated his quality as a coach with the ensuing success at Manchester United under difficult circumstances at times." Now, just a matter of days since Ten Hag was unveiled as the new Leverkusen head coach, it has been reported that the German club are 'advancing to the final stages' of a deal for Brentford's Mark Flekken. Leverkusen are keen to strengthen their goalkeeping department and have set their sights on signing the Netherlands international, according to Fabrizio Romano. The 31-year-old is valued at around £8.4million and personal terms are not anticipated to be an issue, as club to club talks are underway. Advertisement Flekken has been one of Brentford's standout performers this season, having made the most saves out of any 'keeper in the Premier League (152). Despite this, he has kept just seven clean sheets in 30 matches. Ten Hag wanted Flekken at United before his £11m move to Brentford in May 2023. He has since made 70 appearances for Thomas Frank's side but is now closing in on a move to Leverkusen, with Liverpool shot-stopper Caoimhin Kelleher identified as a potential £20m replacement. Here at The Manchester Evening News, we are dedicated to bringing you the best Manchester United coverage and analysis. Make sure you don't miss out on the latest United news by joining our free WhatsApp group. You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe. Advertisement You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here to be sent all the day's biggest stories. And, finally, if you would rather listen to our expert analysis then make sure to check out our Manchester is Red podcast, featuring The Samuel Luckhurst Show and The Midweek Debate. Our shows are available on all podcast platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and you can also watch along on YouTube.

Liverpool could blow biggest transfer spend out the water as huge difference maker emerges
Liverpool could blow biggest transfer spend out the water as huge difference maker emerges

Yahoo

time22 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Liverpool could blow biggest transfer spend out the water as huge difference maker emerges

The red smoke may still be clearing from Liverpool's Premier League title triumph, but the Reds are wasting little time turning their attentions to the future. And as Arne Slot's squad jet off on their well deserved holidays after capturing the club's 20th English crown, sporting director Richard Hughes is hard at work strengthening that group. Advertisement A deal for Jeremie Frimpong is already confirmed and the Reds continued their aggressive approach to the summer transfer market with a bid of £109m for Bayer Leverkusen's Florian Wirtz on Friday. That's not all, with Milos Kerkez another transfer target and the Reds striking a £10m deal to allow Trent Alexander-Arnold to make his switch to Real Madrid several weeks earlier than planned. READ MORE: Liverpool's stunning bid for Florian Wirtz as Bayer Leverkusen transfer negotiations continue READ MORE: Virgil van Dijk's two decisions transformed Liverpool celebrations and prove he's perfect captain Advertisement Meanwhile, Caoimhin Kelleher is courting interest from a number of Premier League clubs and Darwin Nunez is subject to interest from Saudi Arabia. Hughes' phone, then, may well be ringing off the hook this week, but he will need to keep it fully charged in the coming days and weeks. In terms of transfers, Liverpool are on course for their biggest summer for years, certainly since over £150m was splashed on the reconstruction of the midfield area in 2023. The surprise departures of Fabinho and Jordan Henderson that year, as well as the exits of James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita, saw Jurgen Klopp sanction a transfer splurge that proved to be the basis for Liverpool's title challenge. Indeed, Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai and the bargain signing of Wataru Endo have given Liverpool the platform to ree-stablish themselves as England's top club. Advertisement But that £150m spend could instantly be dwarfed this summer with deals already being lined up. Frimpong's transfer will cost the Reds £29.5m, with the release clause in the 24-year-old's contract being triggered. Meanwhile, Liverpool have made a bid totalling £109m for Wirtz, with the sum made up of achievable add-ons and guarantee fees, although it is unclear at this stage what the initial fee would be to bring the 22-year-old to Merseyside. That Liverpool are prepared to smash their transfer record of £75m paid for Virgil van Dijk in 2018 underlines the ambition on show from club chiefs this summer and the esteem in which they hold Wirtz - and Hughes for that matter. The former Bournemouth sporting director is clearly somebody whose judgement is valued highly by Michael Edwards and FSG. That's not all. The Reds are favourites to sign Kerkez from Bournemouth, with a fee of £45m mooted. The Hungarian left-back has made little secret of his desire to make the switch to Anfield with his international team-mate Szoboszlai. Advertisement Should all three deals go through then Liverpool will already have smashed the transfer spend of summer 2023 and could even exceed the £160m spent in 2018, when deals for Keita, Fabinho, Xherdan Shaqiri and Alisson Becker were sealed. Keita, like the £29m Giorgi Mamardashvili, was signed in the summer of 2017, with the Guinea midfielder arriving for RB Leipzig a year later. Throw in Mamardashvili's transfer fee and Liverpool will have exceeded the summer of 2018, though add on the £75m spent on Van Dijk in January of that year and the Reds still have some way to go before they outdo their efforts of seven years ago. But there is still plenty of time for that, with centre-back and striker to other areas of the pitch that Hughes and Slot will be considering when they plot out the rest of the summer, with outgoings set to have a big influence on where Liverpool look to do business next. Advertisement And it all points to what could be Liverpool's most ambitious transfer window yet. There is, though, one big difference between 2018 and 2025. Seven years ago Liverpool entered the summer nursing the wounds suffered against Real Madrid as beaten Champions League finalists. A fourth-place finish saw them requalify for the competition but it was clear that Klopp's side were looking to make the next step. Slot's team, however, enter this summer as the Premier League champions and will go into next season among the favourites to lift the biggest trophies both domestically and in Europe. And while deals for Alisson and Van Dijk were seen as major coups for Klopp's men, Wirtz picking Anfield over Manchester City and Bayern Munich comes as less of a surprise given Liverpool's current status. Indeed, Liverpool are spending from a position of strength this summer, and that just might make it the most exciting transfer window yet.

How Labour's winter fuel fiasco paves the way for means-testing the state pension
How Labour's winter fuel fiasco paves the way for means-testing the state pension

Yahoo

time24 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

How Labour's winter fuel fiasco paves the way for means-testing the state pension

As Rachel Reeves announced an about-turn on her winter fuel policy this week, she opened a whole new can of worms for pensioners. The Chancellor's decision to return the payments to those with an income of under £35,000 has created a complicated means-test and reignited calls from some commentators to claw back other benefits, such as the state pension, from those deemed 'wealthy'. Means-testing the state pension system would be a radical move that no British chancellor has dared attempt before. But Labour is desperate for cash and has shown it is not afraid to anger older voters. Could Ms Reeves possibly get away with it? Introduced in 1909 and originally worth five shillings a week, the state pension is a cornerstone of the welfare state. Today, workers pay National Insurance contributions for 35 years to receive its full benefit. The full new state pension is £230.25 a week, while the old 'basic' pension – for those who reached state pension age before April 2016 – is £176.45 a week. However, the benefit has become increasingly unaffordable to administer. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicts the country's spending on pensioners will reach £180bn by 2029. The idea of reserving the payment for those who need it most has therefore become increasingly attractive. Both Labour and the Tories pledged to keep the 'triple lock' that means pensions are increased each April by the highest of wage growth, inflation or 2.5pc. Means-testing could be one way to dramatically cut costs, without breaking that pledge. In January, Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, caused uproar when she said her party would 'look at means-testing' the state pension. Key Labour advisers, think tanks and academics have also voiced support for the plan. Means-testing would completely upend the system. But this week's winter fuel policy reversal could make it slightly easier. Under the latest changes, all pensioners will receive the winter fuel payment, worth up to £300 a year. However, those who earn more than £35,000 will be expected to return it to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). To administer the new system, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will tell HMRC who they've paid the winter fuel payment to. HMRC will then apply the income test to determine who will need to repay the money. Government departments have long shared data about taxpayers, including doing so specifically to pay or not pay a pensioner benefit, such as free TV licences. But is this Whitehall bureaucracy really a slow slide towards a means-tested state pension? Telegraph Money reader Jim Humphrey fears so. The 69-year-old, a part-time financial adviser from St Albans, is one of the estimated two million pensioners who will still not receive the winter fuel payment. This is because his income exceeds the £35,000 threshold. He is worried Labour is on a 'slippery slope' to means-testing the state pension. He said: 'I don't need the money, but it is a question of principle... I have paid tax for many, many years.' Other state benefits have been means-tested in recent years. Free TV licences for all over-75s were scrapped in August 2020 and restricted to those who qualify for pension credit. Last year's restriction of the winter fuel payment to those on pension credit was also a form of means-testing – as is the payment of pension credit to those on the lowest incomes. Campaigners and economists have also pushed for free prescriptions for the over-60s to be similarly restricted. Last October, Dr Kristian Niemietz, of the Institute for Economic Affairs think tank, said: 'Means-testing old-age benefits is a way to make fiscal savings while insulating the poorest from cuts.' Labour is also gearing up to ban over-60s from taking student loans from 2027, as it introduces a 'Lifetime Learning Entitlement'. Ben Ramanauskas, of think tank Policy Exchange, said: 'The Government's approach to cutting spending through means-testing is the right one. 'However, this alone will not significantly lower the cost of the UK's unsustainable welfare bill, improve public finances, or give younger taxpayers a fair deal.' Other countries already operate means-testing on their state pension payouts. In Canada, which operates a flat-rate benefit system, a maximum of $1,433 (£773.30) is paid each month, and is topped up for those on low incomes. In Chile, a pension is paid to those over 65, unless your family's wealth is deemed to be in the top 10pc of the population. Those with an income of less than $1,210,828 (£955.30) a month are eligible, whether they are still working or not. In Australia, the state pension – or 'age pension' – has no reference to how long a person has worked. Instead, it is granted as an age-based means-tested benefit. About a third of pensioners have their pension cut because they have other sources of income. Moving to an Australian-style system would be highly controversial, angering those who say if you have 'paid in' you should get the full amount irrespective of your income. Mike Ambery, of pension provider Standard Life, said: 'There would need to be a change in applying for state pension as well as the detail to replicate means-testing in other countries. The practicality and change to a universal system now would be operationally significant.' There would be other barriers to overcome. The Government could only make significant savings if people are able to generate big enough private pension savings. But despite the 'automatic enrolment' reforms that made workplace pensions compulsory, millions of people are on course for meagre retirement incomes. Research by the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) found that the cost of all but the most basic retirement has increased over the past year. Two retirees running one small car, eating out weekly and taking a four-star foreign holiday each year would now need an income of almost £35,000 each before tax to retire comfortably, rising to £52,000 if they live alone. Meanwhile, anyone living alone on the state pension would even fall short of a basic retirement, which now requires an income of £13,400 a year, the PLSA said. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store