Florian Wirtz first words after completing £116m Liverpool transfer - 'Finally it's done'

Florian Wirtz is unveiled as a Liverpool player

Florian Wirtz has explained his decision to join Liverpool, opening up on how he was convinced a switch to Anfield was the right move to make.

The Reds have broken their transfer record to sign the Germany international, having agreed a deal worth an overall £116m with Bayer Leverkusen.

The German had initially been expected to join Bayern Munich, while Manchester City had also been long-term suitors of the playmaker.

But he was persuaded to join Liverpool after talking with Arne Slot and Richard Hughes, with the Reds then agreeing a deal with Leverkusen after three weeks of transfer negotiations.

Wirtz had admitted he did not initially expect his next club to be Liverpool.

But after speaking with Slot and Hughes, it did not take much to convince him to move to Anfield.

Wirtz

“I feel very happy and very proud,” he told the club. “Finally it’s done and I was waiting for a long time – finally it’s done and I am really happy.

“I just thought it was the right point in my career to make a next step. Of course I wanted to get to a club who is the top three in the world. In my opinion, Liverpool is one of them.

“I just saw myself in the best hands in Liverpool. I was really convinced by the people here, by the idea, everything that the club offers me was really good.

“In the end, it was also easy to decide for me to come to Liverpool.

“It was not that easy for me because I’m a German player, I play for Germany national team so it was not easy for me to decide.

“But I think the talks with the coach (Slot), Richard (Hughes) and everybody from the start, from the very first time, was so good and it kept going like this.

“All the time I spoke to one of the club, I felt like this is a place I want to be. In the end I was really 100% convinced that I want to join Liverpool. I saw it as the best choice.”

Wirtz continued: “I think I was the first one in my family who is really into this club. When they spoke to us, told us that they were interested in signing me, I didn’t expect that Liverpool would be my next club.

“But my family was supporting me and I didn’t have to convince them about the club. Everything was so good.

“I wanted to join a different league. In the end, my family will love to come here and spend time with me here in the stadium. They will like it here as well. I'm really looking forward to play in the stadium in front of the fans. It will be exciting.

“I see this also as an opportunity for me to get better in this point. So yeah, I just thought this was the right place for me.”