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Man City given green light for long term De Bruyne replacement
Manchester City have been given permission to speak to Florian Wirtz by his club Bayer Leverkusen – who prefer to sell the player abroad than to direct rivals Bayern Munich.
Sky Sports has reported that the player and his family have already traveled to the north-west of England on Tuesday for talks with Man City, with a verbal agreement already in place between the two clubs.
Wirtz is said to be keen on the move, but is yet to make a final decision on his future. The player admitted to being tempted by a move away from Leverkusen amid links to City, Bayern, and Real Madrid amongst others.
Bayern remain strongly interested and are said to be also pushing hard to convince the player, but as it stands City remain in the driving seat.
City are understood to consider Wirtz their top target this summer and see the player as a long term replacement for Kevin De Bruyne. An official fee has not yet been announced but it is expected City will need to pay close to if not more than the £100m they spent on Jack Grealish.
It is likely they would pay in installments, with Sky Sport’s Kaveh Solhekol reporting an initial fee of £85m being readied.
City closing in on Wirtz
The German playmaker is one of Europe’s hottest prospects. A product of the FC Koln academy, he joined Leverkusen in 2020, making his first team debut on May 18 of that year when he started against Werder Bremen.
That appearance made him Leverkusen’s youngest ever player in the league, aged 17 years and 15 days – overtaking Kai Havertz.
The attacking midfielder has been pulling the strings for Leverkusen ever since, and last year etched his name into club folklore. He scored 11 goals and provided 11 assists in 32 Bundesliga appearances as Leverkusen became the first side in Bundesliga history to complete a full campaign unbeaten.
They would go on to win the treble, also capturing the DFB-Pokal and the DFL-Supercup. They were on course for a fourth trophy but were beaten by Atalanta in the Europa League final.
He’s also starred for Germany since becoming a regular, scoring in their Quarter-final defeat to Spain in the 2024 Euros.
Wirtz is a pass master, splitting defenses with his vision and passing range. He has a knack for scoring goals as well, drawing comparisons to Kevin De Bruyne even before recent links to City.
Wirtz would likely not be City’s only midfield recruit this summer. Transfer Tavern reported previously that the club remain interested in Morgan Gibbs-White and Tijjani Reijnders. City could be set for a total midfield overhaul, with the futures of several first team players including Jack Grealish and Ilkay Gundogan also uncertain at the moment.
