Much of the current transfer rumor mill is working overtime when it comes to Germany star and Bayer Leverkusen attacking midfielder, Florian Wirtz.
He's been heavily linked to Bayern Munich and Liverpool in recent days and it appears to be a two-horse race after Manchester City ended their pursuit over rising costs.
Everything being reported tells us that Liverpool are legitimately interested in the player, and would be open to parting with nearly €120 million to secure his services. That's a lot of money, but I'm here to explain the reasons why it would make total sense for the Reds to go through with this.
Long-term Investment
Wirtz is still only 22 as he burst onto the footballing scene as a teenager and has only gotten better and better since that time.
€120 million is a massive fee for a player, but Wirtz will have the ability to repay it and then some if he could stick around for 5, 6, 7 years and beyond. At his current trajectory, he still has room to keep growing as a player and he could truly become one of the very, very best.
He could be one of the faces of the next generation of Liverpool stars and could take what Coutinho could have been and only amplify it with his own signature style.
The FSG way for years has been to invest in 24-and-under players with massive upside. That is Florian Wirtz in a nutshell.
He could grow alongside someone like Dominik Szoboszlai to form a tantalizing attacking midfield duo that could unlock any defense in the world on their best day. Sanctioning this move would pay for itself in many ways in the coming years.
Strengthening a Strength
As mentioned above, Liverpool already has Szoboszlai on the books. They also have Alexis Mac Allister, Cody Gakpo, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott all currently available to play in an advanced midfield role.
One might wonder why the club would push all their chips in on yet another No. 10, but as we have seen this season, elite quality up and down a squad is essential to competing on multiple fronts.
In addition to that, right now, as an attacking midfielder, Wirtz is better than all of the players above. Macca has a case as a better box-to-box mid, but purely from an attacking perspective, he lags behind the German.
Wirtz also has the ability to play on the wing as needed so Arne Slot could put him in several different intriguing spots on the pitch to try and unlock himself and others.
There's something to be said for a club not resting on their laurels and a signing like this would signify the club has one vision and that is maximizing this window of opportunity for winning silverware over the next few seasons and beyond.
Unless Leo Messi in his prime is puling on a Liverpool shirt, you can always improve that position and their pursuit of Wirtz should be applauded.
Frimpong Familiarity
Admittedly, this one might not be as crucial, but with the Dutch wingback already signed at Anfield, adding his running mate that won a Bundesliga title with him is never a bad thing.
They already have an attacking chemistry that would help both players settle in and they could fit this belief in each other into the Slot system.
It would be one spectacular double swoop of transfers and would have the next era well and truly underway with the fresh-faced attacker linking with the new right-back of the future.
Joining Frimpong at Liverpool could be very enticing to Florian Wirtz and for these reasons and several more, the Reds should be more than comfortable paying whatever fee they must to get him here.