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Bayern Munich’s humbling at the hands of Liverpool Football Club may turn out to be a blessing in disguise in the long run.

The Bavarian giants, for starters, have other key areas of the squad to address beyond reinforcing the No.10 position.

But in the meantime, it will have no doubt stung to learn that the most prestigious talent in Germany was not a dead-cert signing for the Bundesliga’s dominant force.

How Liverpool beat Bayern to Florian Wirtz

(Photo by Pau Barrena/Getty Images)

For several months, it was taken as something bordering on certainty that FC Bayern would win the race for the Bayer Leverkusen midfielder.

Manchester City, after all, had pulled out of the running, citing the potentially seismic costs of doing a deal. Meanwhile, Real Madrid seem unprepared to make a serious move much before the 2026 summer window.

It all suited the Bundesliga champions… until Arne Slot’s Reds produced a convincing pitch of their own for Wirtz.

“On Sunday 18 May, there was a secret meeting in Munich with Florian Wirtz. He was driven directly from the airport to a hotel in the city in a limousine. From the underground car park, he was taken up to a suite in a lift,” Christian Falk exclusively informed CaughtOffside.

“There, Wirtz held talks with coach Vincent Kompany, director of sport Max Eberl, sports director Christoph Freund, CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen and supervisory board members Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Uli Hoeneß also attended the meeting. It was the day of the championship celebrations.

“After these talks, Wirtz went on holiday. He thought about it for five days – and finally politely declined a move to Bayern. Wirtz informed Kompany. Wirtz’s father called Eberl and Hoeneß. The decisive factor in his decision was that Arne Slot offered him ownership of the number 10 role at Liverpool. In Munich, he would have had to share this with Jamal Musiala. The talks with the coaches were decisive.”

How close are Liverpool to a deal with Leverkusen?

It’s now understood that Liverpool have submitted a bid totalling around £109m [€130m] for Florian Wirtz.

Once both outfits can agree on an appropriate set of add-ons to include in the deal, it seems highly unlikely that anything will stop the German international from moving to Anfield.

This would represent a record-breaking deal for the Merseysiders – comfortably eclipsing the £85m they forked out for Darwin Nunez.

With the Uruguayan now heavily tipped to depart this summer, it’s no doubt a welcome reality to see one of Europe’s top talents take on the mantle of the club’s record signing.

A statement of intent in the Premier League

Forget the fact that Liverpool have managed to break Bayern’s monopoly over top German players.

A fee exceeding £100m – an amount they had previously been prepared to commit to now Chelsea man Moises Caicedo – represents a huge statement of intent.

This is Arne Slot’s men signalling to their Premier League rivals that they have every intention of holding on to the title. For what it’s worth, that’s a feat the Reds haven’t achieved since the 1983/84 season.

Beyond that, it could not be a more aggressive response to the disappointment of a round of 16 exit at the hands of this year’s Champions League finalists, PSG.

The post What Arne Slot told Florian Wirtz to make Bayern rejection easy appeared first on CaughtOffside.