Revealed: Why Florian Wirtz rejected Manchester City transfer for Liverpool

Yahoo

5 hours ago

A new report has indicated that concerns over Pep Guardiola's Manchester City future impacted Florian Wirtz's decision on his next club this summer.
The recently-dethroned Premier League champions Manchester City ultimately lost out in their preferred hunt for the Germany international's signature this summer, with their official line being a concern over finances around a deal.
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Having come into the summer in what appeared to be a three-horse race with Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, developments across the space of 72 hours saw City go from supposedly holding talks with Wirtz and his family in Manchester, to losing out to Liverpool.
Arne Slot and senior club officials made a concerted effort to bring the player to Anfield and strengthen their roster ahead of a Premier League title defence, offering record-breaking finances to both Bayer Leverkusen and the player.
Ultimately, Manchester City would move on to an equally as impressive operator within the French game, securing Olympique Lyonnais' Rayan Cherki for a fraction of the cost to come into the position vacated by Kevin De Bruyne this summer.
But according to The Times' Paul Joyce, several sources – including those in Germany – have indicated that Florian Wirtz had enquired about how long Pep Guardiola would remain in charge at City given his contract is due to expire in the summer of 2027.
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The report then points towards information previously issued by German publication Bild, who claimed that the Catalan coach was 'not emphatic' and so the Bayer Leverkusen playmaker turned down Manchester City, and not the other way round.
From the side of City, they claimed that they were pulling out of the race for Wirtz's signature earlier in the summer transfer window due to the cost involved in a potential deal, estimated by them to be £250 million split between a £126 million transfer fee and a five-year contract.
Thankfully for Manchester City supporters, the club appear to have put the money saved from a deal for Florian Wirtz into wider-ranging reinforcements within Pep Guardiola's first-team squad this summer.
Completing four deals prior to the start of the FIFA Club World Cup, Manchester City have welcomed a new left-sided full-back to bolster defence in Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolves, while Tijjani Reijnders has come into the No8 role.
As mentioned, Rayan Cherki arrives as a new natural No10 while there was also an alteration between the posts as long-standing third-choice goalkeeper Scott Carson was replaced by Chelsea's Marcus Bettinelli.