The upcoming move from Florian Wirtz to Liverpool seems to be in the middle of a dispute between Bayer Leverkusen and Koln after comments from Koln President Werner Wolf
Liverpool closes a deal for Florian Wirtz, but the entire Saga could go through for a while after Koln sent a message to Bayer Leverkusen. Liverpool has made two bids for Wirtz, where Leverkusen maintains £ 126 million.
However, an agreement is reached between the two parties, where Wirtz has made it clear that he wants to move to Anfield. However, things have now become slightly more complicated after a statement by Koln President Werner Wolf.
Wirtz joined the Koln youth arrangement in 2010 before making a controversial switch to Leverkusen in January 2020. After Koln had signed the 12-year-old prospect Marco Quotschalla from Leverkusen in 2001 by offering him an eight-year-old deal, the two rivals and Borussia Monchengladbach came to a Wellan agreement.
The three clubs agreed not to try to poach each other's young talent, although that was limited to Academy front views and not players of the first team. When Leverkusen signed a then 17-year-old Wirtz in 2020, Koln thought they had broken the agreement.
Leverkusen, however, claimed that they had not done that because they considered Wirtz as a player in the first team and the midfielder eventually made his senior debut for the club five months after he had signed for them. Now that Wirtz is about to complete a large move to Liverpool, Koln must receive part of the fee.
And according to a report from Bild, the situation will become a dispute of 'million dollars' after comments from the club's president. “Of course we are investigating it,” Wolf said on Radio Cologne.
“We know what we are entitled to and will fight for it. We look at this with both eyes. We will benefit from it. The higher the sum that Liverpool is willing to pay, the better for us.”
According to the rules of FIFA, every club that played a role in the development of a player between the ages of 12 and 23 receives five percent of any transfer costs such as 'training compensation' and Wirtz was nine and a half years from the age of seven.
As a result, Koln can owe around £ 6.3 million if Liverpool ultimately pays the asking price of £ 126 million from Leverkusen and it is claimed that they have been established to make contact with the FIFA -Clearing House to ensure that they receive the highest possible payment.
Koln would intend to claim that Wirtz's 'training' period was closed before he turned 23 when he made his debut for Leverkusen at the age of 17 and made his entire international debut for Germany when he was 18.