'One more season': £90m player is about to completely rule himself out of Liverpool move in 2025 - Romano

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Liverpool look set to be busy during the next year of the transfer window.

Having been quiet during 2024, the Reds have left themselves with quite the shopping list for 2025.

Part of that feels likely to be searching for a new attacker or two. With Mohamed Salah’s contract set to end and question marks over other forwards in the Liverpool squad, Arne Slot may need something new.

And as Liverpool scour the market, there are already plenty of names cropping up in relation to the Reds.

One of these has been Florian Wirtz, who has seemingly been on the radar at Anfield for a number of years already.

But according to journalist Fabrizio Romano, Wirtz is about to do something which will rule out a move to Merseyside until at least 2026.

Florian Wirtz set for contract extension

Wirtz has been one of the most exciting young attackers in Europe over the past 18 months.

A key cog in Xabi Alonso’s invincible title winners, the 21-year-old has scored 29 goals since the start of last season.

All of this has of course alerted the likes of Liverpool, with reports from September that the Reds had made Wirtz a top transfer target in 2025.

But as Romano says on his YouTube channel on Wednesday, Wirtz is set to end the speculation by penning a new deal to stay at Bayer Leverkusen until at least 2026.

READ MORE: Why Arne Slot has decided he doesn’t want to sign Jeremie Frimpong for Liverpool

“Florian Wirtz is close to extending his contract at Bayer Leverkusen, the agreement is very, very, very close,” says Romano.

“Still working on some details, still the father of the player taking care of the contract, but the agreement to extend the contract would mean for Florian Wirtz to stay at least until the World Cup 2026.

“And so, Florian Wirtz really close to extending his contract and staying one more season at Bayer Leverkusen.”

Wirtz agreement good news for Liverpool

Although there were strong suggestions that Liverpool wanted Wirtz as a matter of priority next year, it never felt especially likely to happen.

Real Madrid are keen on Wirtz too, and once the Spanish giants get involved it can be tricky to compete.

Furthermore, with the Germany international in fantastic form, there have been claims that Leverkusen would demand £90m to sell Wirtz. Liverpool probably wouldn’t stretch to that.

The same things could also be true in 2026, of course, and a 23-year-old Wirtz could be coming off the back of a smashing World Cup with his country.

But in kicking the can down the road, we’d argue that Liverpool’s chances of signing Wirtz have oddly increased, rather than decreased.