Florian Wirtz missed most of the first season of Kevin De Bruyne in Manchester City – because the family of the German star did not even have a television until 2016.
But this summer, Playmaker Wirtz Icon de Bruyne could replace in the Etihad to make Pep Guardiola's silk essential display again.
City is fighting it with new Liverpool champions and German Giants Bayern Munich to close a deal for £ 126 million Rated Wirtz.
Baas Xabi Alonso can also try to take Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen to his reported new club Real Madrid in the coming weeks.
FA Cup finalists City wants him to take over from De Bruyne, who deducts the curtain on an unforgettable, trophy loaded decade in the club when he slows down for free this summer.
And it is easy to see why Guardiola is behind the 22-year-old, who seems so grounded when he is talented and hardworking.
Wirtz, born in Pulheim, on the northwestern edge of Cologne, has nine brothers and sisters with four brothers and five sisters.
He is the youngest of the ten children, although only he and sister Juliane are the children of both father Hans-Joachim, 71, and mother Karin Gross, 64, are with the rest of earlier relationships.
Wirtz's parents once knew as his grandparents by a Dazn reporter with a red face during a man-of-the-match interview in March last year.
Just like Florian, the 23-year-old Juliane is also a professional football player and plays for Werder Bremen-All brothers and sisters in addition to Marie playing football.
The first club of Florian and Juliane was the local side Grun-Weiss Brauweiler, where his father is still chairman.
The family spent so much time there that they didn't think it was necessary to buy a TV for their house until just before Euro 2016. If they wanted to watch games, they would watch them together in the clubhouse.
Wirtz sharpened his fatal shooting by playing football on the family miano as an 18-month old, before he came to Cologne at seven years and stayed ten years.
Bayern tried to sign him in 2020, together with Hoffenheim and Leverkusen.
He chose the last for two reasons, with the first to promise Peter Bosz that he would throw him directly into the first team.
The other was because he wanted to continue at his Keulenschool, who was only 15 miles away from Leverkusen.
Wirtz was an average academic student and almost enough to graduate from high school.
But it was not surprising that he excelled in sport and was a competent handball player – helped because his mother Karin was a professional coach in the discipline – and gymnast.
Florian's close relationship with his mother comes back to her who attend all his training sessions that grow up.
Karin takes care of his finances, while Hans handles his contracts.
Wirtz told Sports Illustrated last week: “The sporting perspective is much more important than the money. I think my parents would be angry if I was too fixed on money,
“After I moved to Leverkusen at the age of 16, my parents managed my salary and sent me 150 euros a month. That shaped me.”
The star and his girlfriend Aaliyah Mohamed are avid chefs, which is said to mix the menu every day, except Saturday when it is almost always cooked potatoes and warm beetroot with horseradish.
But Karin is always present to help with new recipes and also cooked for fourteen days for her boy after the Mannschaft Star did his ACL in March 2022 and could not walk.
Wirtz was still in rehabilitation by the time that the Spanish manager Alonso, 43, took over from Leverkusen in October 2022.
But the teenager at the time showed his leadership skills by traveling home and away to stay connected to the team, although he could not play.
The influence of Wirtz means famous, no coach has ever dropped him.
And indeed, former Liverpool star Alonso built his invincible, double-winning side-the-person who denied Harry Kane de Bundesliga title in the previous term around the young person.
Wirtz made an electric return of an injury and worked harder than required during his recovery.
He supplied a hat trick from the bank to conquer the title in a 5-0 abuse of Bremen in April and was named player of the competition season.
Alonso compared Wirtz with the German Boyhood Idol Lionel Messi for how easily he showed the game.
Despite his great season, Wirtz never looked close to leaving Leverkusen last summer.
But 12 months later he is expected from him and City also chased AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders, 26, and Morgan Gibbs-White, 27, Van Nottingham Forest Seats exactly in the mix.
If he opts for England, he could be accompanied by his best friend Jeremie Frimpong, 24, who is on the Liverpool list to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The couple has a shared love for rap music and fashion, while Wirtz is a fan of Mercedes Cars.
Bayern feels that they are in pole position for Wirtz, with sources in Germany who claim that Hans-Joachim prefers the switch, especially in this phase of his son's career.
The German giants may have to chase their formation again in Wirtz, and there are question marks about how the setup would work with colleague no. 10 Jamal Musiala.
Former city and Bayern -midfielder Didi Hamann, 51, claimed: “I have my doubts that it will work with Musiala. Both are central players and want to play there.
“Both side by side at number 10 – that works on the computer, but not in practice.
“People will suffer, maybe even both.”
NEVER Discuss the attraction of Bayern on German players.
But the Prem attraction, as Wirtz himself noticed last week by mentioning his wish to “leave my comfort zone at some point and experience something new”.
Now it is according to the big weapons to fight it for his signature.