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Florian Wirtz is unveiled as a Liverpool player after his signing at AXA Training Centre (Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

The big bosses at German sportswear giant Adidas must have been rubbing their hands together with glee when it became clear that Liverpool were set to move for Florian Wirtz.

The Reds completed the club-record signing of the playmaker last month, landing the 22-year-old after a deal worth up to £116m was agreed with Bayer Leverkusen.

Wirtz’s arrival is a transfer coup for the Premier League champions, having fought off competition from both Bayern Munich and Man City to land his signature.

The player himself even admitted he had not expected his next club to be Liverpool prior to holding talks with Arne Slot and Richard Hughes, as he found himself swayed by a persuasive pitch.

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Germany’s star player, Wirtz is, unsurprisingly, already an Adidas athlete.

And he will be wearing Adidas kits at club-level for at least the next five years too, after it was confirmed back in March that they would become Liverpool’s new kit partner - taking over from Nike.

So it was perhaps slightly surreal to see Wirtz unveiled wearing Nike kit, holding aloft a shirt he will never wear in competitive action for the Reds.

While Adidas will be delighted to see German football’s most exciting star at one of their new prized clubs, it will have been a frustration that the famous three stripes were not adorned all over his unveiling.

Instead, he wore the tick of their fierce global rivals.

Alas, red tape made the inclusion of Adidas branding impossible.

Liverpool’s partnership with Adidas will only begin from August 1, 2025, with Nike’s kits set to see out the season.

But details of the new Adidas Liverpool kits - home and away - will be revealed via club and Adidas channels and available to purchase from August 1.

The delayed launch date is a knock-on effect from the Coronavirus pandemic and the expiry of the Reds’ previous kit deal with Nike’s predecessors, New Balance, back in 2020.

With the 2019/20 Premier League season not concluding until July 26, a short-term extension to the expiring deal was agreed in order for New Balance to see out the campaign - including Liverpool’s title-winning celebrations.

Now, five years on, Nike are enjoying the same liberties as they maximise the exposure of the brand and the partnership to the very last after seeing the Reds win the Premier League title once again.

Therefore all of Liverpool’s new signings to date have all worn Nike training wear and kits for their medicals and unveilings.

The Reds’ new arrivals are all yet to have their squad numbers confirmed either.

While that could partly be in response to waiting for outgoing transfers to see which numbers become available, there may also be marketing motivations.

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Liverpool and Adidas will look to make up for lost time when their partnership - believed to be worth around £65m - officially starts.

And with Wirtz the Reds’ new record arrival, expect the German to play the most prominent of roles both on and off the pitch.