With Liverpool breaking a British transfer record to sign Florian Wirtz, fans are rejoicing at The Reds punching their weight in the market…
THERE we go.
Liverpool’s signing of Florian Wirtz has set a new British transfer record. People love these things.
We’re usually criticised for not striking out so boldly in the market and if you look at the stats you can see why.
The last time we broke the record was in 1995 when Stan Collymore signed from Nottingham Forest for an astonishing £8.5m. £8.5m! That’s the equivalent of just short of £21m today. Imagine if our biggest summer signing was for £21m. People would lose their minds.
We may feature in the all-time top fee list, but that’s more for selling players than buying them. Kevin Keegan to SV Hamburg in 1977 (and it’s still far too soon to talk about that) and Fernando Torres to Chelsea (2011) spring to mind along with one other.
Everyone’s favourite is still the third highest of all time – Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona. You’ve got to laugh. I hope his back’s better now.
What’s really astonishing is just how many of the big-fee players struggled after their dream move – Grealish, Kepa, Morata, Hazard, Nicolas Pepe and pretty much the majority of Manchester United signings since 2014 must have wondered if it was worth it for anything other than financial reasons.
At time of writing, Kepa is about to go on loan to Arsenal for just £5m. He’s still the most expensive goalkeeper in history and only 30. Alisson Becker is 32.
Florian Wirtz’s signature seems less of a risk as it adds to an already competitive and successful team rather than hopelessly throwing money at a big name and hoping it comes up trumps. What’s more, his versatility will make his role more fluid.
I’m loath to think he’ll play in the left of a front three despite Luis Diaz being linked with a move away. I see him playing more in the Dominik Szoboszlai role behind the nine (whoever that might be) or even as the nine himself in a sort of withdrawn role. Not sure.
Well, nobody’s sure which is glorious. He’ll probably end up doing most of those things on his way to bringing in the 21st League title and the seventh Champions League.
What it does do is show the world that Liverpool and Arne Slot are serious. With Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and probably Milos Kerkez in the bag along with securing Mo and Virgil and the new reserve keeper, we’re clearly looking at the big prizes with a real sense of optimism rather than a pipe dream.
We’re not buying for top four anymore. Those days are gone. Maybe this ‘buy loads of players every two years’ strategy is the way forward.
This brings up an important question. What are we doing about abbreviating the names of the new lads? Florrie? Jezza? Kerks? Will there be an online poll to finalise this stuff?
I love this signing and also the attention it brings. An early no-nonsense ‘we’re doing this’ statement not only to the league but to Europe. We’re not messing about. Oh, additions to the squad and young players are fine, but you can’t beat a full-on starter coming in and setting an agenda.
I’m looking forward to next season already.
