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| 사진=Liverpool Fans World |
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Unlike Manchester City, Liverpool didn't give up Florian Birz.
The BBC reported on the 19th (Korea time) 'Bayel Leverkusen's Birtz is one of the most popular midfielders in football, and everyone expected him to be a natural successor to Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne. However, Pep Guardiola's Man City have withdrawn their interest out of fear of soaring transfer fees for Birtz, reports said.
Manchester City are preparing for a major rebuild this summer. The position where the biggest change is expected is the offensive midfielder. This is because he has decided to part ways with The Bruyne, the best player in Manchester City's history and one of the best midfielders of all time in the Premier League (EPL).
Of course, the only way to replace the club's all-time legend is to bring in such a player. Birtz was the player Manchester City predicted. Birtz was a man of extraordinary talent from an early age. A young player born in 2003 started playing in the first team from the 2019-2020 season in Leverkusen, a prestigious German club. Birtz became a key Leverkusen player immediately after his second season. Looking at the growth rate at the time, Birz grew faster than Jude Bellingham or Jamal Musiala.
However, Birtz suffered a major injury of a cruciate ligament rupture during the 2021-2022 season. Leverkusen was confident that Birtz would succeed even though Birtz was seriously injured. Birtz, who returned from injury, proved perfectly that the club's conviction was not wrong.
Birz's extraordinary season as Europe's best midfielder was the 2023-2024 season. Birtz, who grew into a world class under coach Xavi Alonso, showed fantastic performance with 18 goals and 20 assists in 49 games. Led by Birtz, Leverkusen had a historic season as they won their first league championship in the club's history unbeaten. Winning the DFB-Pokal Cup, Birtz rose to the legendary ranks of Leverkusen.
Birtz is considered to be close to perfection as an attacking midfielder. Birtz's greatest advantage is his natural vision of genius in football intelligence. Birtz, who is also very good at kicking on both feet, even has shooting ability to aim for points directly. It is evaluated that he looks like Andrea Iniesta when he dribbles lightly through the opponent. He is also committed defensively.
Man City deserved a mouthful of course. In fact, Manchester City has been very active in recruiting Birz. The problem was competition. Bayern Munich has been moving to recruit Birz for almost a year, and Liverpool also participated in the war, intensifying the competition to recruit Birz. With Leverkusen already setting a transfer fee of 150 million euros (about 235.3 billion won), the soaring recruitment competition has reached a level that even Manchester City cannot easily afford.
The BBC predicted that if Manchester City recruits 22-year-old Birz, the deal will be the largest contract in the club's history, and could reach up to 300 million euros (about 469 billion won), including transfer fees and annual salaries. Manchester City was judged to be excessive within Manchester City, explaining why Manchester City gave up recruiting Birz.
Manchester City gave up, but Liverpool did not step out. The British Telegraph reported on the same day that `Liverpool must compete with Bayern for Birz as Manchester City withdraw from the recruitment competition. Manchester City finally accepted the offer after a long chase. The club judged that the cost of the recruitment match was too high. As a result, Liverpool is emerging as the most realistic destination if Birtz rejects Bayern's offer and chooses to challenge the EPL, according to the report.
The media has already expressed interest in Liverpool and has conveyed its position to share continuous information on Birz's move. If the possibility of signing opens up, Liverpool is ready to act immediately, and there is an evaluation that Manchester City's withdrawal could serve as a positive signal for Liverpool manager Arne Slot.
Liverpool also loaded their bullets properly this coming summer. He is determined to continue the momentum of this season by recruiting a clear player, not an ambiguous player.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
