Manchester City are considered “firmly in the race” to sign Bayer Leverkusen star Florian Wirtz, despite the strong competition between Bayern Munich and interest from Real Madrid.
Wirtz has been on City’s transfer radar for years since he broke into the first team of Leverkusen at the age of 17 to replace Kai Havertz from 2020 to Chelsea.
The attacking midfielder suffered an ACL tear in the early spring 2022, which excluded it for ten months until the following year. But there has been no permanent damage, with Wirtz Central for Leverkusen’s epic 2023/24 campaign, which resulted in a first Bundesliga title, DFB Cup, to the final of the Europa League. The latter was the only game they had lost all season.
After another strong season in 2024/25, Wirtz has remained a transfer goal for the largest and most ambitious clubs in Europe. However, the chances of the city seemed to be faded when speculation assembled that he started a move to Bavaria of domestic giants.
But The Telegraph has reported that Wirtz’s parents, who represented him as external agents, have made a “whistle stop in Manchester” and confirms that they are still in the race. Hans Wirtz, the father, was arrived at the airport of Blackpool from Blackpool, a quiet airport of provincial airport, for about an hour on the coast of Lancashire from the much more busy hub Manchester.
In Germany, Sports picture Writes that a “specific offer” from Manchester City has ended up at Leverkusen’s door. Bavaria has not yet submitted its own offer, but is to create a proposal of € 100 million (84 million GBP). Leverkusen asks up to € 150 million (£ 127 million).
The size of the city offer was not announced in the reporting, but the signing of Wirtz could challenge your club record transfer, which is currently over 100 million GBP for Jack Geralish in 2021.
Wirtz is considered the ideal replacement for Kevin de Bruyne, who leaves the club at the end of his contract after new conditions have not been offered. The city was also associated with people like Nottingham Forest Vice captain Morgan Gibbs-White and Barcelonas Dani Olmo as possible alternatives.
The Pep Guardiola site also takes into account central midfielder – including AC Milan ‘number eight’ Tijjani Reijnders.