Florian Wirtz, the Bayer magician who put Europe at its feet

PORTRAIT – Voted best player in the Bundesliga, Florian Wirtz is the star of Bayer Leverkusen who is having a dream season. Euro 2024 awaits the German attacking midfielder. And maybe even the Ballon d’Or…

Square jaw, low eyebrows, serious demeanor that doesn’t show his age or his carelessness. The face of Florian Wirtz is also that of Bayer Leverkusen, about to complete an unprecedented season in the history of football. In the wake of its prodigious playmaker, the German club was crowned champion without losing a Bundesliga match (28 wins, 6 draws), a competition in which Wirtz was elected best player.

How can you not fall under the spell of this boy, barely 21 years old, a true esthete, as much a dribbler as a finisher and distributor, but also a leader and worker. There are the basic numbers that say it all: 18 goals and 19 assists in 47 matches this season. There are those who are less talked about and who illustrate his impact even when Leverkusen does not have the ball: 10.1 kilometers covered per match, the 3rd highest total for his team. Proof that he is not just an old-fashioned N.10.

Alonso mentions Messi when talking about Wirtz

His trainer, Xabi Alonso, indirectly compared him to Lionel Messi by wanting to highlight not the physical or technical qualities, but the brain of his jewel. “Florian is a gift for me as a coach, Why is Messi so strong? Because he knows when to make a simple pass”explained Alonso this season. “He knows how to say: ‘Are you in a better position? Here, here’s the ball.’ It is not always the idea of ​​making the most beautiful gesture, but the best, the most intelligent”developed the Spaniard.

SEE ALSO – Wirtz’s hat-trick for Leverkusen’s coronation against Werder Bremen last April (5-0)

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The explosion at the highest level of Wirtz, trained at Bayer, surprised no one across the Rhine. The kid was expected. “From day one, he started to put in his two centsshared his former teammate at Leverkusen, Julian Baumgartlinger. He doesn’t care what others think, it’s even his trademark. He is insolent, speaks freely, and does not wonder how it will be perceived.»

Serious knee injury in 2022

Confusing from his first steps among the pros, Wirtz nevertheless saw his rise slowed down when he was not yet 19 years old. On March 13, 2022, against Cologne, he suffered a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. He had to skip the World Cup in Qatar, where Germany experienced a humiliation off the road in the first round. He came back stronger, sharpened for the dream season that Leverkusen is completing.

Opponents have developed the unpleasant habit of bowing to such an outpouring of talent. Against Freiburg on October 29, Wirtz scored what was voted goal of the year in Germany, after a dizzying slalom. “We cannot defend him, we must accept him, and conceded the coach of Fribourg, Christian Streich. We can decide to do two takes, but if it still passes we’ll say to ourselves: “why did we do a two take?” It’s impossible.”

SEE ALSO – The summary of France-Germany including Wirtz’s goal after 7 seconds last March (0-2)

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Florian Wirtz is not a rough diamond, he is already cut. In the title match against Werder Bremen on April 14, he came on at the break (1-0) and scored a hat-trick (5-0 final score). He was the first to calm the supporters who invaded the pitch before the final whistle, furious and fearful that the match would not come to an end and deprive Bayer of the coronation. A captain’s attitude, which is what he is about to become with the Mannschaft. France can attest to this: it only took him 7 seconds to score his first goal for the selection, with a brilliant strike under the bar of Brice Samba, in a friendly match on March 23 (0-2).

No one is unsaleable, but for less than 150 million euros, it is irrelevant that Wirtz leaves.

Fernando Carro, president of Bayer Leverkusen in April 2024.

The entire host country of Euro 2024 hopes to see it confirmed this summer. A big tournament coupled with the final victory would make him one of the favorites for the Ballon d’Or. Unexpected, like Leverkusen’s fabulous season, where he should still be there, like Xabi Alonso, next season. “No one is unsaleable, but for less than 150 million euros, it is irrelevant that Wirtz leaves”exposed the president of Bayer, Fernando Carro, in the Spanish press a month earlier.

He first has two finals to play, in the Europa League against Atalanta Bergamo this Wednesday (9 p.m.) then against Kaiserslautern in the German Cup on Saturday (8 p.m.). To complete the masterpiece.