Manchester City handed major boost in race to sign German prodigy, Liverpool also interested

Manchester City have been handed some encouragement in their transfer pursuit of Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz.

Wirtz is highly rated around Europe and he has a bright future ahead of him. He is a prodigious young talent who could develop into a world-class player with the right coaching and guidance.

The 20-year-old has already established himself as a key player for his club and has three goals and four assists to his name across all competitions this season.

Manchester City are set to be amongst the club’s to consider a move for the Bayer Leverkusen star, who could leave the current Bundesliga leaders at the end of the campaign, claim Spanish publication Sport.

According to the Spanish publication, Barcelona were keen on Florian Wirtz. But they have now decided to back out of the race to sign the 20-year-old midfielder because of the costs involved as Bayer Leverkusen prepare to demand an €85 million fee.

Manchester City are also interested in the German international. Barcelona’s decision will come as a major boost to the Premier League and Champions League winners.

Despite Barcelona’s withdrawal, City are far from alone in their pursuit of the 20-year-old. Bayern Munich, Newcastle United and Liverpool are also thought to be interested in Wirtz [via Fichajes).

The English trio are claimed to be ‘very attentive’ to Wirtz’s situation, although Bayern Munich could throw a spanner into the works, report German outlet Bild.

Additionally, Real Madrid were thought to be monitoring the player back in March, but nothing has surfaced regarding their potential interest since then [via ESPN].

The opportunity to play for the biggest Premier League clubs can be hard to turn down for any player and it will be interesting to see how the player reacts if there is a concrete proposal on the table.

What would Florian Wirtz add to the squad?

Wirtz is a wonderfully creative player who generally plays as an attacking midfielder – not only does he possess a range of passing, he is also an excellent carrier of the ball. He has played 21 key passes in the Bundesliga thus far – only Joshua Kimmich, Andrej Kramaric and Franck Honorat have completed more up to this point in the season [via FBref].

As such, should Pep Guardiola’s side strike a deal with Leverkusen for the services of Wirtz, he would be an excellent creative influence in our midfield.