Liverpool 'set date for Florian Wirtz medical' ahead of £116m British record transfer - with German star poised to return from holiday to seal move
Florian Wirtz will reportedly undergo his Liverpool medical later this week as the German star edges closer to completing a British record £116m move.
Mail Sport reported last week that an agreement had been reached by the Premier League champions and Leverkusen for the attacking midfielder.
The clubs agreed a base £100m fee for Wirtz, which could rise to £116m depending on bonuses including winning the Premier League and Champions League.
Wirtz is currently on holiday after featuring for Germany in their recent Nations League matches.
According to The Athletic, Liverpool have pencilled in Wirtz to undergo his medical on Friday.
Wirtz is then expected to sign a five-year deal with Liverpool to finalise the transfer.
The deal, which looks set to be the most high-profile of the summer, would represent a major coup for Liverpool.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
24 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘We took a big leap of faith': how a community project built Arsenal Women
It is 40 years since the establishment of Arsenal in the Community, the wing of the club responsible for founding the women's team, and the announcement that all the side's Women's Super League games will be played at the Emirates Stadium next season returns the team to the N5 community that birthed it. With the players ending an 18-year wait for a second European title by beating Barcelona in the Champions League final in May, it has been a year of full-circle moments for Arsenal. Bringing all league games to the Emirates Stadium 'is another step in driving towards the best conditions for our players to be able to perform at their best and towards one of our main objectives, which is to win trophies', says Arsenal's director of women's football, Clare Wheatley. 'We also just felt that a connection back to where we began, back to our roots, was warranted.' Sitting in the sun in the playground of Haverstock School, with an Arsenal in the Community girls' football session taking place in the background, Arsenal's head of community, Freddie Hudson, tells the story of the birth of the women's team. 'The roots of Arsenal women are firmly connected to a community programme back in the late 1980s, when there was just no access or structured opportunity for girls and women to play football,' says Hudson, part of the community scheme for 37 years. 'You couldn't go to a local provision as a young girl and take part in any football activities. We recognised that and we thought that was wrong, so we began to run girls' football programmes in schools, after the school day and during holidays, and what we found was that those girls were as talented as the boys, and that was with huge barriers and challenges around them and without any football role models they could look up to.' The decision to engage further with those girls grew from this. 'If they wanted to model a football technique or a skill, they'd have to look to professional men players and that just didn't sit right with the football club,' Hudson says. 'So we took those girls' football programmes and the passion, commitment, togetherness, belonging and loyalty that those girls were showing, which was just so powerful, and took a big leap of faith. We developed a youth training scheme for 16- to-18-year-olds with the aim of mirroring what the boys had in terms of a pathway. 'There was no route into professional football for women but at least we could get to the point where they had a YTS scheme as an option. So they were full-time with us from 16 to 18 and were paid for by a government training scheme. The bulk of their time they were being coached as players, but then they gained lots of sports qualifications and gained experience in the JVC Centre at Arsenal in a sort of leisure centre environment. So we were equipping them with work skills and more. That was just such a powerful programme and all of a sudden that attracted players like Rachel Yankey.' The club would help senior players find jobs in the club too, Alex Scott famously washing the men's team kits in her early days there. The landscape is very different today but Arsenal are still doing that base-level community work. One of the coaches working with the girls at Haverstock School, Abby Webster, is a former pupil. 'As soon as I hit 18 I was able to get a job in the community,' she says. 'I've been out to other places to get some more experience but then I've always come back here; this has always been where my heart stays.' Bella, Myah, Kayla and Stevie step away from the session, faces red, to talk about its impact. 'We're closer now,' says Bella. Abby, says Stevie, is 'less like a coach and more like a person that you can go and talk to. She's more like a cool, younger person, like a cousin or something.' All four have been taking part since the sessions began, having previously had only the inter-form cup available for matches. They love the sessions and have loved being taken on trips too, including to the Arsenal Hub, the centre of Arsenal in the Community. 'We've met Declan [Rice],' says Myah. 'We got signed shirts, the new shirts,' Kayla says. Sign up to Moving the Goalposts No topic is too small or too big for us to cover as we deliver a twice-weekly roundup of the wonderful world of women's football after newsletter promotion When Arsenal in the Community was launched in 1985, it was a way to give back to locals facing disruption on match days and engage with a generation of young people 'that we felt they weren't being listened to', says Hudson, who was awarded an MBE last Friday for services to Arsenal's community. 'Unemployment was high, there was some racial tension in the city and we wanted to engage those young people.' Many of those challenges exist today. 'The riots in the 80s and 90s were kind of replicated in 2011,' Hudson says. 'Society was in a pretty bad place back then and the challenges nowadays are similar, though there are some differences and different nuances. Unemployment is still a real challenge for certain young people that haven't had any decent role modelling around education and work pathways.' The community programme has also enabled Arsenal to assist local authorities with issues such as teenage pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, school attendance and punctuality, Hudson says. 'The beauty of the football club, though, is it's nimble,' he says. 'It's not a local authority, it's not an NHS, where there's levels of signoff you have to go through. We can be really responsive and with a bit of creativity and nimbleness and passion and commitment, all of a sudden you could be facing a challenge one day and the workforce could be out there with partners delivering on those challenges within a couple of weeks.' Arsenal want to ensure a route remains from their community work into the women's and girls' teams, alongside their talent ID programme and academy. 'We are also aware of barriers that are there for local girls to come through and have plans to reduce those,' Wheatley says. Those plans include moving some training to London and helping with the financial burdens that come with being a part of a team. Improving the diversity of the senior side is also an important driver behind the work done further down the chain. Wheatley is proud of Arsenal's diversity in the academy and says: 'We have strengthened the pathway between the academy and first team just to ensure that there is that progress.' The success of the first team and of individual players provides what Hudson describes as 'a golden opportunity that we can't let pass' at community level. 'All the success we've had in the 2022 Euros, with all the success that Arsenal women have had with 62 trophies, it's phenomenal,' he says. 'And we've got a great window to drive some female-focused messages, supporting those young girls through pinch points of anxiety in their lives, but not just with women and girls. We've got a great opportunity to take some of those conversations, some of that education, some of that awareness, to a male audience, and that's what we're doing too.'
The Guardian
27 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Cardiff City appoint Brian Barry-Murphy as new head coach on three-year deal
Cardiff City have appointed Brian Barry-Murphy as their head coach on a three-year contract. He arrives from Leicester, where he had worked under Ruud van Nistelrooy since last December. Barry-Murphy's only experience as a first-team manager came with Rochdale, where he finished his playing career, from 2019-21. He then spent three years as manager of Manchester City's elite development squad. The 46-year-old will be joined by Lee Riley, who departs his coaching role at Manchester City's academy to become assistant coach. Riley worked with Barry-Murphy in City's youth setup and at Rochdale. 'I'd like to welcome Brian to Cardiff City Football Club. We are delighted that he has agreed to become head coach,' said the Cardiff owner, Vincent Tan. 'Throughout the interview process, Brian showed a huge passion for our club because he believes in what we're trying to do. He knows this level having played and managed at this standard before, where he was noted for his style of play. Since then, he has only gone from strength-to-strength as a leader. 'He brings enthusiasm, vibrancy and an exciting outlook on what today's football is, while looking to play an attacking style that our fans are sure to enjoy,' Tan added. 'It's a combination of all of Brian's great talents that make him the right man to take us forward into this next chapter.' Born in Cork, Barry-Murphy played for his hometown club, Cork City, before joining Preston in 1999. He also played for Sheffield Wednesday and Bury before moving into coaching at Rochdale. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion Cardiff will play in the third tier next season after finishing bottom of the Championship, dropping out of the football pyramid's top two divisions for the first time since the 2002-03 campaign.
Metro
34 minutes ago
- Metro
Chelsea in talks to sign £17m Jadon Sancho replacement during Club World Cup
Chelsea have opened talks to sign a replacement for Jadon Sancho during the Club World Cup, according to reports in France. Sancho was hoping to earn a permanent move to Stamford Bridge after joining the Blues on loan from Manchester United last summer. Chelsea were open to keeping the winger at the club despite his inconsistent form last season but were unable to reach an agreement with the player during contract negotiations. The Blues would have had to spend around £25m to keep Sancho but decided instead to pay a £5m penalty and send him back to Manchester United. Despite this, Enzo Maresca remains keen to strengthen in the wide positions this summer, with the likes of Christopher Nkunku, Mykhailo Mudryk and Noni Madueke all available for summer moves. Wake up to find news on your club in your inbox every morning with Metro's Football Newsletter. Sign up to our newsletter and then select your team in the link so we can send you football news tailored to you. French outlet L'Équipe say Chelsea have made contact with Lyon over a deal for Belgium international Malick Fofana. Fofana enjoyed a promising first season at Lyon following a £17m move from Belgian side Gent last summer. He featured in Lyon's Europa League quarter-final clash with Manchester United, which the Red Devils won 7-6 on aggregate. Chelsea have reportedly asked Lyon about the feasibility of a deal for Fofana, who earned his first international appearance last year. The interest from Chelsea comes after fellow Premier League side Nottingham Forest expressed interest in signing Fofana, who turned 20 in March. The highly-rated winger is contracted to Lyon until the summer of 2028 but it has been suggested the Ligue 1 side could be open to a sale. Chelsea, who finished fourth in the Premier League last season and won the Conference League, are currently in the United States for the Club World Cup. Speaking ahead of Chelsea's first group game against MLS side Los Angeles FC, Maresca confirmed he was planning to sign a new winger this summer. More Trending 'Jadon is not with us so for sure that is a position [winger] we need to do something,' Maresca told reporters. 'We have Noni [Madueke], Pedro [Neto] and Ty [George] only as the proper wingers so something for sure is going to happen. 'When the transfer window is open, for sure, we can do something.' More to follow… For more stories like this, check our sport page. Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. MORE: Newly-promoted Premier League side keen to sign unwanted £30m Chelsea star MORE: Al Nassr set transfer fee for Arsenal and Aston Villa to sign Aymeric Laporte MORE: Why are Chelsea playing in the Club World Cup 2025?
