Bayer Leverkusen CEO Fernando Carro has said there is a “very high chance” Florian Wirtz stays at the club beyond the summer transfer window.
The Athletic reported earlier in April that Wirtz was among the options Manchester City will consider to replace captain Kevin De Bruyne this summer, while Leverkusen’s Bundesliga rivals Bayern Munich also interested.
The 21-year-old has scored a combined 21 goals and provided 14 direct assists this season for Leverkusen and Germany.
Leverkusen CEO Carro, told Sky Germany that the club had received no contact from Bayern and they were confident they would be able to retain their star player for the 2025-26 season.
“For his transfer, we would need a special fund, like the federal government,” Bayern’s honourary president Uli Hoeness told Sky Germany. “Therefore, this is not an topic at the moment.”
Carro also said that there’s been no contact from Bayern regarding Wirtz and that there’s a “very high chance” that he stays.
Wirtz has become one of European football’s most coveted players after a sterling 2023-24. He won Bundesliga player of the season as Leverkusen went undefeated domestically, lifting their first league title and the DFB-Pokal.
After making his senior debut as a 17-year-old in 2020, Wirtz has made 191 appearances and accumulated 56 goals and 63 assists. He has been capped 29 times by Germany and was part of Julian Nagelsmann’s squad at Euro 2024.
Wirtz staying at Leverkusen would make sense
Analysis by Seb Stafford-Bloor
Even under normal circumstances, a Bayern deal for Wirtz would be extraordinarily difficult and would require the club to shatter the German transfer record. But it would be especially tricky this summer, with the club aimed more towards reducing their wage bill and freeing up resources to perform the rebuild that their squad needs.
Wirtz is not an outright, immediate priority. The more pressing issues in 2025 were the contract renewals for Jamal Musiala and Alphonso Davies, both of which have now been signed at great cost. Leroy Sane is also close to extending his contract, albeit on reduced terms, meaning that the chances of a major arrival are extremely limited in the upcoming transfer period.
That might suit Wirtz, who is in a fine rhythm at Leverkusen, where there is no sense that he has yet hit his ceiling. Strategically, it would also be logical for him to stay where he is for at least another season. With the 2026 World Cup a year away, rushing a move seems reckless and a needless risk to take; Germany will be among the favourites in the USA, Canada and Mexico, and Wirtz has the opportunity to be a star.
And — while it does not feel as if he has been around for years — he is still only 21 and hardly running out of time. Most likely, he will have even more options in a year’s time, at which point his reputation will surely have grown further.
It could still happen. Nothing is impossible. But the odds, as Fernando Carro suggests, are probably on him staying for now.
(Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)