Florian Wirtz joined Liverpool in June 2025 having established himself as one of the leading talents of his generation in Germany.

A gifted attacking midfielder equally comfortably in scoring goals and supplying them, he advanced through the youth ranks during a decade at Cologne before switching to Bayer Leverkusen at the beginning of 2020 and truly beginning his ascendancy.

Wirtz debuted for Leverkusen just a fortnight after his 17th birthday in May of that year and within a few more weeks had opened his Bundesliga scoring account – a goal against Bayern Munich making him the youngest player ever to net in the division at the time.

He was swiftly integrated into the senior set-up, making 69 appearances in all competitions for Leverkusen in the two seasons that follow...