New Liverpool signing, Florian Wirtz has admitted that now “was the right point” for him to move to the club.
Wirtz yesterday (20 June) became Liverpool’s second signing of the summer as he completed a £116.5m transfer from Bayer Leverkusen, following in the footsteps of Jeremie Frimpong who was the Reds’ first signing in late May.
The 22-year-old midfielder explained to liverpoolfc.com that he felt that now was an ideal time to leave Leverkusen and take a leap into the unknown outside of German football.
“I just thought that it was the right point in my career to make the next step and of course I wanted to get to a club that is from the top three in the world, and in my opinion Liverpool was one of them.
“Yeah, I just saw myself in the best hands in Liverpool. I was really convinced by the people here, by the idea, and everything what the club offers me was really good. And in the end [it was] also easy to be excited for me to come to Liverpool.”
Wirtz however added that the decision to come to Liverpool wasn’t easy given that he represents Germany in international football, but Liverpool manager – Arne Slot made the move easier to consider and ultimately accept.
“Yeah, it was not that easy for me, for sure, because I am a German player, I play for the Germany national team. So, it was not easy for me to decide but I think the talks with the coach and Richard [Hughes] and everybody were, from the start or from the very first time, so good and it just kept going like this.
“Every time I spoke to one of the [people from] the club I felt like, ‘this is the place I want to be’ and so in the end I was really 100 per cent convinced I want to join Liverpool and it was the best choice.”
Slot in particular proved influential in the eventual decision as Wirtz revealed how in-depth the Dutchman went in his persuasive talks, with examples of how he wants to progress the team with Wirtz involved.
“The conversations were always really good. I can remember the first time, he already showed me some scenes of how we want to play and how I could fit in the team.
“He was just telling me that I’m a player he really wants to have in his team and can bring the team a step forward. I just could imagine it [being] good to be in the team and to make it better because I have to make my performances every week – but I’m here for this.”
Wirtz is also targeting title success throughout his five-year spell at Anfield but iterated that the whole team must work hard every season.
“I would like to win everything every year! First of all, we have to do our work, I have to make my work. In the end, we want to be successful.
“Last season they won the Premier League so my goal is for sure to win it again and also to go further in the Champions League. I’m really ambitious.”