Liverpool’s second bid, totalling €130m for Bayern Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz has been rejected this week as the two clubs continue to thrash out one of the biggest deals of the summer. Negotiations are ongoing and the price for the forward continues to sore in what would be a club record fee, far higher than Virgil van Dijk’s move from Southampton for £75M.
Collymore, who from Nottingham Forest with a club-record transfer fee of £8.5M in the summer of 1995, spoke to Liverpool.com about how bringing in Wirtz should worry fans who are being sucked into a deal that is very unlike the club.
"The slight discomfort from me, having been a big Liverpool signing, is that Liverpool traditionally have made players. People will say 'look at how much they have spent in the last 20 years', and I get it, but with players that have lots of room to develop
"Don't get me wrong, Florian Wirtz has got a lot of room to develop, which in itself is a very exciting prospect, but they haven't gone down the road that Manchester United, Arsenal and Manchester City have gone down — big, blockbuster signings.
"The last time it happened was Alberto Aquilani when there were banners on The Kop before he had even played a game. It feels a little bit like that in terms of it being 'wow'.
The former Liverpool forward then admitted that the pressure and fame of such a price tag can weight heavily on a player as all attention is focused on them. Collymore hopes that if Wirtz does arrive in Merseyside that he is treated that any other player and is allowed to develop without all eyes constantly being on him.
"This was a guy who was going to go to Bayern Munich, or if not Bayern Munich then Real Madrid or Manchester City, for example. So from a Liverpool perspective, it is kind of like saying 'we are here now and we want to maintain our position and fire a warning shot across the bows of Europe's best clubs, to attack the Champions League'.
"I hope — because Liverpool are so used to developing players and making them into superstars — that having someone coming in as a superstar, they can manage that carefully and not let it become about the cult of Florian Wirtz. I just hope that he is allowed to settle in and just be one of the lads, where there is a seamless transition on the pitch."