Liverpool is said to have reached an agreement to offer Florian Wirtz a substantial salary that would place him in the same financial category as the star player Mohamed Salah.
The Reds are making significant financial commitments regarding the expensive acquisition of Wirtz.
After successfully fending off competition from Real Madrid, Manchester City, and Bayern Munich, Liverpool is currently engaged in discussions with Bayer Leverkusen to finalize a fee for their valued attacking midfielder.
The latest proposal from the Premier League champions is anticipated to be a staggering, record-breaking €134 million (£113 million, $152.8 million).
This amount, however, still falls short of Leverkusen’s €150 million (£126.4 million, $171.1 million) valuation, necessitating additional rounds of negotiations as the summer progresses.
Nevertheless, it is reported that personal terms with Wirtz have been agreed upon.
According to BILD, Liverpool has consented to provide the 22-year-old midfielder with a contract that could be worth up to €22 million (£18.6 million; $25.1 million) annually.
This translates to approximately £355,000 per week, which is believed to be similar to the terms Salah accepted when he signed a new two-year extension in April.
The prolific 32-year-old is reported to have received a base salary of around £350,000 per week prior to agreeing to an extension that did not involve a pay reduction.
The Telegraph indicates that when all bonuses are factored in, Salah’s total compensation would surpass that of Wirtz, amounting to approximately £25 million ($33.8 million) per year.
Virgil van Dijk also secured a contract extension in April and, as reported by The Athletic, continues to be the highest-paid defender in the world, earning a weekly salary of about £400,000 ($530,000).
Beyond Salah and Van Dijk, no other Liverpool player is thought to earn anywhere near the same sums as Wirtz’s proposed salary.
Trent Alexander-Arnold perhaps would have been entitled to a similar haul had he accepted any of the club’s lucrative offers to extend his stay on Merseyside, but as he outlined in his open letter to fans, the decision to join Real Madrid was not financially motivated.