FLORIAN WIRTZ: WHO IS THE GERMAN WONDERKID BEING TARGETED BY EUROPE'S ELITE?

Featured Image Credit: Bundesliga

Florian Wirtz is a name that if you haven’t heard of by now, you surely will in weeks to come.

At the tender age of just 18, you do start to wonder what this guy could possibly go on to achieve further in his career.

He has cemented himself in the heart of the Bayer Leverkusen attack and is now considered to be one of their most gifted players, managing to produce the most goal-creating actions per 90 minutes across Europe so far this season.

For now, though, let’s look back at where and how the German youth international started his career.

Wirtz’s Football Background.

In the year of 2010, Florian and his family travelled from Brauweiler, where he had grown up, to Franz-Kremer-Alle to try out with the academy of FC Koln.

Thankfully for Florian, his dream soon started to take shape after successfully claiming the number 10 shirt for FC Koln’s academy, in which he did not fail to impress.

The attacking midfielder was crucial to Koln and in the year 2019, he was able to help guide his team to win the under 17 Championship.

After consistently showing off his immense potential, Bayer Leverkusen came knocking and managed to land the incredibly talented midfielder.

From here, I guess you could say the rest is history, with Florian breaking records whenever he stepped foot on the pitch.

Take the previous phrase literally and you will find that on 18 May 2020, Wirtz broke the record, previously held by Kai Havertz, to be the youngest player to debut in the Bundesliga at the age of 17 years and 15 days.

Furthermore, Wirtz soon became the youngest player to score in the Bundesliga, however this was later taken from him by Youssoufa Moukoko.

After proving his worth in the league, he was able to force his way into the German senior international team for the world cup qualifiers in March 2021, despite only playing three games.

Later in the year though, the German squad were too strong for Wirtz so, as a result, he went to play for the under 21 German national side at Euro 2020, in which he scored twice in his six appearances.

His side also won the championship by beating Portugal in the final, which meant Wirtz had some more silverware to his name.

This Season.

Florian Wirtz has started this 2021/22 season in inspired form.

The attacking midfielder has 10 goal scoring actions in the Bundesliga, which is the most of any player in the top five leagues.

Wirtz has also managed; six open play passes - leading to a goal, three dribbles - leading to a goal and one defensive action - also leading to a goal.

All of this completed after only playing a total of 366 minutes of football, is some performance from Wirtz and has now led to a lot of interest from many top teams.

Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea are just some of the names rumoured to be interested in the young player and with him performing so incredibly, it would be hard to not even consider the thought of Florian Wirtz moving on sometime soon.

As for now though, the German youth international is definitely one to keep an eye on this season, as he looks to place himself amongst the elite young players in the world.

Wirtz is a player who I can see really excelling in the near future and a player I honestly believe can become an Elite footballer, who will no doubt break many more records.