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Florian Wirtz’s father and agent Hans-Joachim Wirtz has shed light on why the Germany playmaker turned down a move to Bayern Munich.
Wirtz joined Liverpool for a club record £116m last month.
He penned a long-term deal with the Reds, understood to be five years, which will keep him on Merseyside until at least 2030.
The transfer surpasses Liverpool’s previous club record signing of Virgil van Dijk for £75m in 2018.
The deal includes a guaranteed £100m and a further £16m in add-ons.
If those add-ons are be achieved, the 22-year-old’s move to Anfield would become a British transfer record – beating the £107m Chelsea paid Enzo Fernandez in 2023.
Wirtz racked up 197 appearances and scored 57 goals for Leverkusen across all competitions, helping the club win their first Bundesliga title in the 2023/24 season.
“I would like to win everything every year.
This was also a big point of my thoughts: that I want to have something completely new, to go out of the Bundesliga and to join the Premier League.
“I will see how I can perform there.
Manchester City and Bayern Munich were strongly linked with the highly-rated forward, however, former ended up signing Rayan Cherki from Lyon.
While Bayern are still in the market to sign a new forward after Jamal Musiala badly injured his leg in the defeat to Paris Saint-Germain at the Club World Cup.
Speaking to Sky Germany, Hans-Joachim Wirtz revealed why Wirtz rejected Bayern.
He said: “Arne Slot was able to convince Florian personally.
That made a decisive impression on Florian.
He added: “Vincent Kompany also had very good thoughts and ideas about how he wanted to integrate Florian into the Bayern Munich team.
“In the end, it was nuances that ultimately influenced the decision, which had to do with the different sporting situations and the role for Florian.
“And financially, there were no major differences between the two clubs anyway?
Once again: Bayern Munich really tried hard, but a decision had to be made.”
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