Florian Wirtz: Defeat for Bayern, victory for the Bundesliga

Bayer Leverkusen’s footballers were not on the lawn when the DFB Cup final was kicked off in the Berlin Olympic Stadium on Saturday evening, but one of her players was the dominant topic: Florian Wirtz.

Rudi Völler, sports director of the German national team, said with his own preference for trivialization that he would like Wirtz to stay “another year” in Leverkusen to shoot one or the other. Julian Nagelsmann was already on a different statement. When asked about the presumably impending change from Wirtz to Liverpool, the national coach said that the English champion offers a “great environment” and was a “great club”. In addition, Wirtz in Liverpool can “play in his position”, namely in a central offensive midfield.

With the admission of the national coach, the transfer from Wirtz to the Anfield Road got something almost official. The club’s communication is still pending, but Liverpool is said to be available to pay up to 150 million euros. This would correspond to the sum that Leverkusen’s managing director Fernando Carro recently called up.

It is now also clear that Wirtz will not go to FC Bayern, who also promoted the 29-time international. The supervisory boards Uli Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in particular would have liked to see Wirtz in Munich. Hoeneß, actually not too pathetic words, even said: “If I can have a dream, I would say that Florian Wirtz has to go to Bayern.”

This dream is over and for Bayern this means another difficult defeat on the transfer market. Their attraction for talented young people is increasingly disappearing-that is the knowledge of the failed Wirtz change. Bayern has not succeeded in piling the best talents of the league on Säbener Straße for three or four years: In 2022, Haaland from Borussia Dortmund went to Manchester City, in 2023 Jude Bellingham left BVB to join Real Madrid, 2024 Dani Olmo (RB Leipzig) decided on FC Barcelona and against FC Bavaria.

And now Florian Wirtz. For Munich, far -reaching economic consequences – apart from the fact that they should be offended in their not too small ego. They are forced to continue to make transfers according to the Harry-Kane pattern. When Kane moved from Tottenham to Bayern in the summer of 2023, he was 29 years old and cost 100 million transfer. His contract expires on June 30, 2027, Kane will be 33 years and eleven months old on this day. Its market value will have dropped dramatically, presumably on a single -digit million amount.

With the commitment of Florian Wirtz, on the other hand, Bayern could have been doing a business: he is only 22 years old, for Wirtz there will also be a market for four or five years if its development continues to progress. Much of the 150 million transfer resolutions that would now have to be paid, possibly even more, could have recovered Munichers again at a transfer before the end of the contract.

The fact that Wirtz is now moving to the Premier League hurts Bavaria, but for the Bundesliga as a whole, this does not necessarily mean a loss. What kind of FC Bayern would have been with Wirtz, Musiala, Kane and Olise? An offensive to stop any defense in Germany. The Bundesliga would have fallen back into its old mode, according to which Munichers are always masters – unless an accident happens like last season.

In addition: Florian Wirtz is not out of the world. He continues to play for the German national team and should lead them to the World Cup title in 2026-in any case Rudi Völler and Julian Nagelsmann.