BALLACK REVEALS CONCERN OVER WIRTZ AND WOLTEMADE MOVES
Germany legend Michael Ballack says he is ‘fundamentally concerned’ about Florian Wirtz and Nick Woltemade moving to the Premier League over the summer.
Wirtz completed a mammoth deal to join Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen, which could end up costing the Reds £116m.
Later in the transfer window Woltemade joined Newcastle from Stuttgart for an initial £65m, with another £4.3m in possible add-ons.
The new Liverpool player is 22 and the Magpies signing is 23, meaning two of the brightest young stars in German football have left the Bundesliga for the Premier League.
Ballack, who played for Chelsea from 2006-10, is not surprised that they have made the money-spinning moves, but is worried what it says about the position the German top flight is in.
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Bayern Munich were interested in both Wirtz and Woltemade, but missed out on both targets as Premier League clubs splashed the cash on them.
The 98-cap Germany international feels it is confirmation that even the Bundesliga’s top club struggles to compete with the Premier League on finances and on the competition it can offer.
‘Of course, English clubs pay insane amounts,’ Ballack told Bild. ‘But even for Wirtz, Bayern were prepared to put together a package worth up to €100 million (£86.5m).
‘And as for Nick Woltemade: That’s a different case. Bayern has a financial budget. The club has excelled for decades by staying out of debt and growing big.
‘That’s why I understand why Bayern decided not to pay more than €55 million (£47.5m) for Woltemade. Because the player wasn’t worth more to them.
‘But fundamentally, I’m concerned about something else. Let’s take Wirtz as an example: Does it make sense for him and his development to play in the Bundesliga for Bayern for another two or three years?
‘Of course, he wins championships there. But is the Bundesliga still a challenge for him at the highest level? No, because the Bundesliga was overtaken by the Premier League years ago.
‘That’s the reality. That’s why it’s generally no longer as attractive for the absolute top players. That’s why changes are needed.’
Bayern’s honorary president Uli Hoeness spoke out on the two deals, criticising the amount of money the Premier League clubs are able to spend.
‘Woltemade isn’t worth the €90m fee. That only happened because of the money flowing from Saudi Arabia,’ he told Sport1 Dopa.
Metro at the Match: Liverpool 1-0 Arsenal
Metro at the Match returns to bring you all the analysis from the biggest games of the season.
Here’s were our team’s key takeways from Liverpool’s dramatic 1-0 win over Arsenal…
- Arsenal’s pursuit of Piero Hincapie looks especially timely after William Saliba was forced off after just five minutes. Cristhian Mosquera deputised well in the Frenchman’s absence, but Mikel Arteta must be pleased to have another reinforcement on the way – Ben Fleming, sports reporter
- One position Arsenal are still lacking in quality is the left wing. Gabriel Martinelli doesn’t quite know when to release the ball and was kept quiet by Dominic Szobozlai all game. If Martinelli can’t do it against someone who isn’t a proper right-back, who can he do it against? – Charlie Barclay, sports video journalist
- Sunday proved to be yet another quiet afternoon for Liverpool’s record signing, Florian Wirtz. The German is still yet to get to grips with Arne Slot’s system and has left the Reds’ midfield looking unbalanced as a consequence – Ben Fleming, sports reporter
- The potential signing of Marc Guehi appears to have finally jolted Ibrahima Konate into action. The French centre-back delivered his most assured performance of the season so far and dealt with the threat of Viktor Gyokeres with ease – Ben Fleming, sports reporter
- Arsenal found it difficult to create much yet again, constantly passing it backwards to David Raya, who was then forced to kick it long. Noni Madueke was the only outfield player who was bright on the day, but was dealt with impressively by Milos Kerkez – Charlie Barclay, sports video journalist
Speaking more generally about the inflated prices paid by Premier League clubs, he added: ‘Of course, we would have liked to have Florian Wirtz, but we would never have bought him for 150 million.
‘We would have liked to have Nick Woltemade. We offered 55 million, Stuttgart wanted 75. Now they’ve apparently sold him to Newcastle for almost 90 million euros.
‘But what Newcastle is doing has nothing to do with football.
‘It’s like Monopoly – advance to Schlossallee (the name for the most expensive property in the German edition of the board game), then some sheikh will come along, and then you can buy.’
Wirtz has already played in Liverpool’s opening three Premier League games of the season, while Woltemade will hope to make his Newcastle debut at home against Wolves on Saturday.
Magpies boss Eddie Howe has urged patience for the new signing, who will take time to adapt to his new club and the Premier League.
‘There will be a period of adjustment so we all have to be very understanding of that,’ said Howe. ‘It is difficult for players to just come in.
‘He has not had a pre-season with us and I love every player to experience that because your learning is a lot quicker.’
He added: ‘He is very good technically. He is very good around the box, he scores goals and I think that will translate.’
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