For Kop's rivals it must be their Wirtz nightmare

THE football world knew it was coming some while ago but confirmation that Florian Wirtz will be playing for Liverpool next season should still send a stark warning to their Premier League rivals.

- BY ANDY DUNN Chief Sports Writer

Make no mistake, this is a statement signing.

A few weeks ago, Anfield boss Arne Slot told a few of us that he was looking to add “an extra weapon" to his title-winning squad.

Well, Wirtz is a footballing Swiss Army knife. He has a multitude of ways to unlock opposition defences.

The fee is quite spectacular. And some have pointed out that the maximum spend of £116million on the Bayer Leverkusen star is in excess of the total being paid by Manchester City for Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Rayan Cherki.

There are several reasons why that is largely irrelevant, one of them being that Liverpool are selectively adding to their squad from a base of great strength.