Jurgen Klopp Stunned by Florian Wirtz's Astronomical Transfer Price Tag
Ex-Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp has reversed his stance on nine-figure player signings, following the Reds' acquisition of Florian Wirtz for a record-breaking fee.
The German attacking midfielder has joined Liverpool for an upfront fee of £100 million ($137.2 million), with additional performance-related bonuses worth £16 million ($22 million). This deal establishes him as both Liverpool's most costly signing ever and the Premier League's highest-priced player in history.
Liverpool's former transfer record belonged to Darwin Núñez, who arrived from Benfica in a deal worth up to £85 million ($116.6 million) with add-ons—though not all performance clauses are believed to have been met.
In 2016, when Liverpool's biggest signing was the £35 million ($48 million) disappointment Andy Carroll, Klopp declared he would quit football if any player commanded a nine-figure transfer fee.
"If you bring one player in for £100 million or whatever, and he gets injured, then it all goes through the chimney," he stated nearly ten years ago.
"The day that this is football, I'm not in a job any more, because the game is about playing together. If I spend money, it is because I am trying to build a team, a real team."
This position had already begun to evolve during his tenure at Liverpool, as the club submitted a £111 million ($152.3 million) bid for Moisés Caicedo that Brighton & Hove Albion accepted in Klopp's final summer window. Only Chelsea's superior offer prevented the Ecuadorian from moving to Anfield.
With Liverpool now crossing the £100 million threshold for the first time and Wirtz becoming the fifth player to join a Premier League side for such a fee, Klopp has acknowledged his previous comments are no longer relevant.
"We all agree that we are talking about a great player here", Klopp told German publication Welt.
"I know that I once said that I'm out if we pay £100 million for a player. But the world is changing. That's just the way the market is. There's no question about it, it's an insane sum, and one that a player at Liverpool is aware of if things don't go well for two or three games.
"We all agree that we're talking about a great player here. I know I once said that I'm out if we pay 100 million for a player. But the world is changing. That's just the way the market is."
As a point of reference, Klopp changed teams four times throughout his 14-year playing career from 1987 to 2001, yet never generated any transfer fees during those moves.