Liverpool Break British Transfer Record: Premier League Done Deals June 18th to 25th

It wasn’t very long ago that Manchester City became the first British club to spend £100m on a player when they signed Jack Grealish from Aston Villa in the summer of 2022. Chelsea broke that record only half a season later when they signed Enzo Fernandez for £106m. They broke it again that summer, signing Moises Caicedo from Brighton for £115m, in the same summer that Arsenal crossed the £100m threshold by signing Declan Rice from West Ham. Two years later, and fees aren’t getting smaller, as Liverpool broke the British transfer record for the fourth time in three years with their £116m signing of Florian Wirtz. Below are all the details on that transfer and every other confirmed Premier League signing from last week.

Florian Wirtz - Bayer Leverkusen to Liverpool, £116m

Photo via Liverpool FC

Arne Slott and Liverpool confirmed their second major signing of the summer window, breaking the Premier League transfer record in acquiring Bayer Leverkusen and Germany attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz. The 22-year-old joins for an initial £100m that could rise to £116m with add-ons, according to Sky Sports.

It’s easy to see why the newly crowned champions spent big on Wirtz; he’s world-class, and adding him to an already prolific Liverpool side is frightening for the rest of the Premier League. Wirtz led Bayer Leverkusen in combined goals and assists last season and the season before, when the club won its first-ever Bundesliga title. For Germany, he’s scored seven goals in seventeen matches, with two of those coming at last summer’s European Championships, where he impressed alongside fellow young German star Jamal Musiala. In terms of contribution, he was the Mo Salah of Bayer Leverkusen, and Liverpool already has Mo Salah.

Wirtz is a well-rounded number ten; he can shoot from distance, play intricate passes, has superb dribbling ability, and puts in a shift out of possession. He will likely occupy the space Dominik Szobozlai played in for Liverpool last year, which will mean the Hungarian either drops out of the team or is forced to play further back. Any creativity Liverpool lost with the departure of Trent Alexander-Arnold will fall onto the shoulders of Wirtz, which also takes some pressure off of Alexander-Arnold’s replacement, Jeremie Frimpong.

Wirtz doesn’t require much tactical tuning either, he’s a player Slott will release on the pitch and let do his thing. He’s the most exciting midfield player to join the Premier League since Kevin De Bruyne signed for Manchester City from Wolfsburg in 2016.

Fer Lopez - Celta Vigo to Wolves, £19.5m

Photo via RC Celta Vigo

After two major departures in Matheus Cunha and Rayan Ait Nouri, Wolverhampton Wanderers confirmed their first incoming transfer of the window in 21-year-old attacking midfielder Fer Lopez. The left-footed Spaniard joins from Celta Vigo on a five-year deal.

Wolves showed they weren’t entirely reliant on Matheus Cunha when he served a four-match suspension in March; Vitor Pereira’s side won three out of those four matches and drew the fourth. However, they still need to add some creative flair to fill the void left by the Brazilian's departure. Lopez will do that, though he may need time to develop.

Lopez scored four goals in 20 appearances for Celta Vigo last season as the club finished in seventh, their best league position since 2015/16. Celta Vigo play a 3-4-2-1 formation, the same which Wolves employ, and Lopez made most of his appearances on the right side of the two behind the striker. For Wolves, Marshall Munetsi played that role most often in the latter half of last season.

Lopez has a sweet left foot and likes to cut in from the right side to carry the ball up the pitch. He has a lot of the same raw traits as Matheus Cunha, in terms of his ability to help the side move forward quickly and threaten back lines, but it would be unreasonable to expect his output to rival what Cunha brought to Wolves, at least at first. However, replacing Cunha with 2-3 players of Lopez’s standard could be the strategy Wolves employ to fill that void.

Jaka Bijol - Udinese to Leeds, £15m

Photo via MB Media/Getty Images

Leeds United confirmed their second signing of the summer window in 26-year-old Slovenian central defender Jaka Bijol, who joins from Serie A side Udinese for £15m. The 6’3 central defender made 95 appearances in three seasons with Udinese, scoring five goals, after joining from CSKA Moscow in 2022.

Bijol will contend with Pascal Struijk and Joe Rodon for a place in Daniel Farke’s back four, with Struijk, who regularly played on the left side before fracturing his foot in April, more likely to lose his place, wrote The Athletic’s Beren Cross.

Bijol is a strong aerial presence at the back; he ranked in the 93rd percentile across Europe's top five leagues for headed clearances last year, which is something newly promoted Premier League sides often need as they face the unrelenting pressure of more talented teams. He’s also good at quickly releasing the ball after winning it back to allow his team to counter, and is surprisingly adept in the opposition's attacking penalty area for a defender of his size (Bijol ranked in the 93rd percentile for touches in the opposition's penalty area amongst defenders). It’s a solid signing for Leeds that immediately improves their options in defense.

Walter Benitez - PSV Eindhoven to Crystal Palace, free

Photo via Getty Images

Crystal Palace announced the signing of 32-year-old Argentine goalkeeper Walter Benitez on a free transfer. Benitez joins from PSV Eindhoven, where he played 134 matches in three seasons, winning the Eredivisie title twice.

Benitez provides further competition for Palace first first-choice goalkeeper Dean Henderson, who comes off a very good season. The fact that Benitez accepted the move after playing eight seasons as a first-choice goalkeeper with PSV and OGC Nice implies that Benitez expects to rival Henderson for the starting spot. It’s good business for Crystal Palace, as one can never have too much competition at goalkeeper.

That’s it for this week's transfer round-up. Check back next Wednesday with Grubby Balls for all the Premier League's latest confirmed deals!