Bayer Leverkusen fans will be happy Florian Wirtz isn’t terrorising them in the Bundesliga next year, but he’s still helped out one of their rivals.
The German superstar has chosen Liverpool over Bayern Munich, holding up two fingers to the side who trounce the league and have made Leverkusen’s lives miserable.
However, in choosing the Premier League champions, he’s inadvertently handed a boost to Leverkusen’s most local and fierce rivals.
Wirtz started out at neighbours Cologne, who get a sell-on fee, but only to a foreign club.
FIFA’s solidarity payments only go to a team that produced a player in their academy when they’re then sold on to a team outside of the league.
The rule is seen as a way to reward lesser countries for producing talents who then decide to go elsewhere.
It also identifies a 5% fee, which in this case would be around €7milllion for Cologne of the €136m Liverpool are paying Leverkusen for Wirtz.
Acknowledging the fact Cologne sporting director, Thomas Kessler, said: “You could say that it’s better for us that he’s moving to Liverpool rather than Bayern Munich. That’s already a given.”
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