EXCLUSIVE: The ECHO chats to Stan Collymore about breaking the British transfer record at Liverpool as the Reds close in on £116m Florian Wirtz
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Having become the first Liverpool player to break the British transfer record in the Premier League era, Stan Collymore will know from first-hand experience how Florian Wirtz might be feeling just now.
The Reds recently reached an agreement with Wirtz’s Bayern Leverkusen after around three weeks of intense and detailed negotiations between the respective sporting directors of Richard Hughes and Simon Rolfes and the Germany star is now awaiting the next steps to complete the biggest transfer of all time on Merseyside.
Drawing an arbitrary and imaginary line from the Premier League’s 1992 advent does occasionally draw the ire of the more seasoned football supporter, but Collymore did break new ground when he completed an £8.5m switch from Nottingham Forest in 1995.
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He became the most expensive footballer in British history at the time before Alan Shearer nearly doubled it 13 months later when he signed for Newcastle United at £15m.
Liverpool’s own in-house version has been broken seven times in 30 years but the former England striker’s place in Anfield history could now eventually be wrestled away by Germany international Wirtz, whose £116m arrival will be made up of £100m up front and a further £16m in add-ons.
For that reason, Wirtz may not technically be stepping through the doors of the AXA Training Centre initially as the Premier League’s most costly arrival but he has the potential to exceed the £115m Chelsea forked out for Moises Caicedo nearly two years ago.
“When you play for a club like Liverpool it is nervous and it is edgy,” Collymore tells the ECHO. “And thinking of someone like Florian Wirtz coming in, I hope they put the dampeners down on [the fee] and don’t do a Manchester United-esque [announcement] where someone is playing or piano or whatever.
“They should strip it all back, let the lad get his foot in the door, get his head down and almost not reference the fee. That would be the only advice I would give to Liverpool.
“During my time, there was a little bit of an indulgence with the fee because it was after the sort of Graeme Souness time and it was sort of ‘we want to get back on our perch’ which came after the creeping success that Manchester United were having. Liverpool don’t need to do that, so in terms of Wirtz, just be as understated as possible.”
Having such an eye-watering price tag accompanying your name in the headlines can sometimes inhibit a player. In recent times, transfers like Romelu Lukaku (£97m to Chelsea, 2021), Antony (£81m to Manchester United, 2023) and Mykhailo Mudryk (£89m to Chelsea, 2023) – to name just three – have all failed to justify their enormous investments.
A huge transfer fee carries with it a similar weight of expectation from your new fanbase but it also allows the knives to come out quicker from those of a rival persuasion, should you fail to hit the ground running. Collymore, though, feels the slick operation at Liverpool means there should be few concerns over 22-year-old Wirtz breaking new ground as a £100m player at Anfield.
Speaking via NewBettingOffers.co.uk, Collymore adds: “I don’t think this is firing a shot across the bows of Arsenal and Manchester City just to show they can find this kind of money.
“They have done their homework on a player who I think most people assumed was going to go to Bayern Munich as an absolute tap-in, have three great seasons and end up at Real Madrid or Barcelona.
“The fact he really wants to come to Liverpool is massive. It’s not one of those where he was weighing it up, Liverpool put the fee in and he was unsure if he wanted to go or not. From my perspective, I can’t wait to see how he gets on.
“I think Liverpool, from the centre spot to the penalty spot, it’s been, well not an issue, but I think with Szoboszlai, Mac Allister as orthodox midfielders who can also get forward that having Wirtz who can go in straight lines from a central position, 10-15 yards outside the 18-yard box, little threaded passes, give-and-gos, opening up teams, it an exciting prospect indeed.
“I think the money then [in 1995] – because it was in the early days of the Premier League – records were being broken all the time. Roy Keane was £2m to Manchester United, Andy Cole had gone to Manchester United, which was £7m. Me, I went for £8.5m, then Shearer at £15m and because the figures were getting bigger and bigger, then the spotlight becomes on the player more and more in what is a team sport.
“That is quite unfair really but nowadays, we’ve been so used to 20 or 30 years of massive money signings that nobody talks about Declan Rice as £105m. It’s like he’s a bit of a down spell or he’s been really good. [The fee] isn’t the first thing that springs to mind. Big money isn’t a new story anymore, Saudi Arabia have blown the doors off things, offering Lionel Messi £1billion or whatever it was that was reported at the time.
“So I think with Wirtz, it’s slightly unusual in that OK, Liverpool occasionally break their transfer records and they break the British records at times too but Liverpool, over its history, have had a tradition where they find a player like a Mo Salah or a Sadio Mane and make them into legends.
“I know that going back to Kenny [Dalglish] and before that they have brought in players for big fees but I think because they are champions and they are looking in terms of Arsenal and Manchester City are competing with them alongside 20 or 30 years of big money coming into the Premier League, I just don’t think the [Wirtz fee] will be talked about as much.
“I think the only reason it will be [a big thing] is if the club indulges it. But I just think Liverpool now, the marketing, the way the club is run off the field, they don’t need to sell a player based on what he’s cost, they can sell a club that is champions of England and England’s most successful club.
“When you look at what Manchester United have done wrong in the last 10 years – of which there have been many things – one of them was the over-ostentatious [presentations]. ‘Here’s Alexis Sanchez playing a piano, here’s how wealthy we are’ type of kind.
“If Liverpool can just get him through the door…Manchester City did it really well with the signings of Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland. ‘We’re delighted to announce the signing of Erling Haaland on an undisclosed fee. Welcome Erling’. That is all they need to do.”
Of his own blockbuster move three decades ago, Collymore reflects: “I remember it very well and the signing day in particular, I was very nervous because Liverpool was a the club I was joining and it was obviously a national record fee and it’s funny because I was just looking the day…when I get mentioned, a lot of Liverpool writers say: ‘Ah we could have seen a lot more.’ But I played 80 games and 51 goal involvements as they would now be termed.
“So 30-something goals over the two seasons and 16 direct assists for Robbie Fowler, so if you’re looking at goal involvements and the mark of excellence is sort of one in every other game, 51 goal involvements in 80 ain’t bad.
“So, of course, Liverpool is measured by what you win and I didn’t win anything there and that team didn’t really. Macca (Steve McManaman) went and one or two others went, Michael Owen came in they won the treble under Gerard Houllier a few years later then the Champions League in [2005] and they have been competitive ever since.
“I remember it very fondly, driving around the streets of Liverpool and around Anfield having come from Manchester, where my agent was, and seeing people in the new shirts and it was very exciting.
“I had a fantastic partnership with Rob (Fowler) and he has said a number of times on the record that he enjoyed his partnership best with me and given who he has played with, that is an endorsement.”