Manchester City star Ilkay Gundogan believes Florian Wirtz is not “world-class” yet, as the latter looks likely to join Liverpool in a record transfer fee. The Reds are ready to break the bank for Wirtz this summer, despite so far being unwilling to meet Bayer Leverkusen’s £126.4million (€150m) asking price.
Liverpool will pay £100m guaranteed to sign Wirtz as they look to close a deal, Mirror Football understands. But they remain locked in talks with the Bundesliga club over add-ons, the structure of the transfer and payments as no agreement is finalised.
Wirtz has not yet been given permission to travel for a medical yet and nothing has been arranged
Liverpool submitted a third bid for the Germany international last week that consisted of £100m guaranteed with £14m in add-ons. And although it did not meet Leverkusen’s valuation, it was not rejected.
Talks have been ongoing between the clubs since it was lodged. Liverpool remain adamant in the talks that they will not pay the £126.5m asking price.
Regardless of how close the deal is to completion, Liverpool will have to break the Premier League’s transfer record for the 22-year-old, who has his heart set on moving to Anfield after turning down approaches from Manchester City and Bayern Munich last month.
It is a mammoth sum, especially when considering that Wirtz’s Germany team-mate Gundogan stated he is still not a world-class player earlier this year. Gundogan looks set to miss out on being club team-mates with Wirtz too, who would have filled the shoes of Kevin De Bruyne following the Belgian legend’s Etihad departure.
Gundogan knows Wirtz’s game well, having played with both him and Bayern’s talented Jamal Musiala for Germany for a number of years. He has a high opinion of both, but thinks that if either want to be recognised as world-class, they will need to join a club capable of winning the Champions League – something Wirtz hopes to accomplish if he joins Liverpool
“They’re very close to world class. Maybe they are not yet there but they could be the best in the world in a short amount of time,” Gundogan said earlier this year