Liverpool have agreed to sign Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen for an initial £100m, potentially rising to £116m.

The German will become their new club record signing and, if add-ons are triggered, will become the most expensive buy an English club has made, topping the £115m Chelsea committed to Moises Caicedo.

Wirtz, who had made it clear his preference was to join Liverpool, is set to have a medical next week and is expected to agree personal terms with the English champions.

The playmaker had also attracted interest from Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Manchester City but was persuaded by Liverpool’s vision for him and rejected more lucrative offers because of his desire to move to Anfield.

But Leverkusen had wanted €150m (£126m), and the two clubs have been in talks. Liverpool had made two previous bids for Wirtz, offering £109m last week before striking an agreement.

His arrival will smash their club record, with Virgil van Dijk costing £75m and Darwin Nunez £64m, rising to a potential £85m, but a bigger deal was made possible by Liverpool’s prudence last summer, when they only bought Federico Chiesa and Giorgi Mamardashvili and made a transfer-market profit.

Liverpool have shown a willingness to spend heavily on players who they believe are world class in their positions and transformative for the team, with Van Dijk and the £65m goalkeeper Alisson previous examples.

Wirtz, who has scored 34 goals in his last two seasons, was named the Bundesliga’s Player of the Year in 2023-24 when he helped Leverkusen win their first league title, plus the German Cup, while they also reached the Europa League final.

Liverpool have already made one signing from Leverkusen this summer, bringing in right-back Jeremie Frimpong for £30m.

They are also interested in left-back Milos Kerkez, with Bournemouth valuing the Hungary international at £45m.

Wirtz’s arrival could lead to Harvey Elliott leaving with Liverpool, who have a self-sustaining model, conscious that sales can help them afford to buy.

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