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On may 23rd 2022 Bayer Leverkusen announced the extension of their youngster Florian Wirtz until 2027. This adds one more year to Wirtz’s previous contract which would’ve run until 2026.
#Wirtz2027 ✍️ pic.twitter.com/tPyinOAtPQ
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) June 23, 2022
This is, in fact, Florian’s third contract extension with Leverkusuen since his joining to the club, and this came as a bit of surprise to the football world as Wirtz was linked with a move away from Leverkusen as several European top clubs including Bayern Munich were intersested in getting his services.
Leverkusen sporting director, Simon Rolfes said “The connection between Bayer Leverkusen and Florian is already an extraordinary success story. Flo is a special player and has great significance for our club. In the same way, we offer him the best opportunities for a fantastic career.”
This extension seems like a strong sign of support and trust in the young phenom, as Wirtz is currently recovering from his ACL injury and could be out form a football pitch until 2023. Wirtz’s extension can be seen as a very smart decision, as players generally find it very difficult to gain back their pre-injury performance levels after such a long recovery spell. And changing clubs shortly after that often makes it much harder, as Bayern’s Leroy Sane found out.
From Bayern’s perspective though, the extension complicates things a little bit. They have been long-time admirers of the German sensation. But now, Wirtz’s extension can lead to two things. One, Bayern will have to wait a little longer to sign the youngster and two, if Bayern or any other club wish to sign him sooner, rather than later, Leverkusen can either straight up deny the offer as they’ll be under no pressure to sell him. Or they can demand astronomical transfer fees. Either way, this was a pretty good move for Leverkusen.
Now Leverkusen are up to something here. They already extended Patrick Schick, signed highly-touted young talent Adam Hlozek, and now they’ve extended their main man (kid’s barely a man. Just Bundesliga things), Florian Wirtz. Really good Business.
As cries for a intense title fight in the Bundesliga goes up, can Leverkusen manage to establish themselves as a real strong title-contender? Can they finally turn the tide this time? Or will Leverkusen just Leverkusen? Time will tell.
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