Liverpool is prepared to pay Florian Wirtz a gross annual salary of $22.7 million per year, as the club closes in on a deal to sign one of Europe's best players.

Wirtz, 22, had not really been linked with Liverpool prior to this month, but the club's pursuit of the Germany international has gathered pace of late.

Liverpool is believed to have edged out Bayern Munich in the race to sign Wirtz for what would almost certainly be a club-record fee, although it is not yet clear what the exact fee will be.

Wirtz is set to become Liverpool's third highest-paid player, behind Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, who both penned two-year contract extensions last month.

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Meanwhile, Germany manager Julian Nagelsmann revealed he has been in contact with Wirtz about his next destination, after the youngster sought the counsel of his national team boss over his future.

"He texted me," Nagelsmann, who previously managed Bayern, told Sky Sports Germany.

Let's wait."

On Saturday, Bayern president Herbert Hainer appeared to admit defeat in the Bavarian club's pursuit of Wirtz, saying: “Max Eberl (Bayern's sporting director) informed me that Florian Wirtz is probably leaning towards Liverpool.”

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German legend Lothar Matthaus, who played for Bayern between 1992 and 2000, said that losing out to Liverpool in the race to sign Wirtz would be a "painful defeat"

He said: "This is a defeat for FC Bayern, and for Uli Hoeness (Bayern's honorary president) personally, certainly the most painful in the transfer market in recent memory.

"He had repeatedly said that Wirtz was their absolute dream player, and that FC Bayern would pull out all the stops to get him

Therefore, the rejection is also a heavy, painful defeat for Uli."

In other transfer news, Liverpool is also closing in on a deal to sign Jeremie Frimpong from Leverkusen after the Netherlands international successfully underwent his medical last week.

Milos Kerkez, too, is another player who could be donning red next season