Liverpool watch on as talks take place for £89m signing as Barcelona build early framework for deal

Liverpool will have to compete with Barcelona for the signing of Bayer Leverkusen wunderkind Florian Wirtz.

Wunderkind, meaning 'wonderkid' in German, is the perfect way to describe Wirtz.

In his short time as a professional footballer, the 20-year-old has revealed to the world how bright his star burns.

He already has 16 goal contributions this season after he got four goals and eight assists last term.

So, it's no surprise he's already valued at a whopping £89 million (€100m) with Leverkusen managing director of sport Simon Rolfes concisely summing up his club's dim view of transfer interest in Wirtz.

“No, no one has approached us, and no one needs that,” he said.

Now, Spanish publication SPORT claims that the forward has been "followed very closely" by Barcelona although they claimed in an earlier report that Wirtz "has almost no chance of playing for Barça."

This is in spite of talks with the player's representatives with the player reportedly dreaming of a move to Camp Nou.

The Spanish club has huge financial constraints with Fabrizio Romano also reporting this week that Barcelona cannot afford the £22 million required to sign Gabriel Moscardo.

SPORT now reports that "Wirtz is targeting England" in spite of the fact that "Fernando Garro, the president of Leverkusen, is a partner of Barcelona."

There will be a huge rush from clubs all over Europe to try their luck at signing Wirtz when he decides to leave the Bundesliga and hopefully Liverpool will be one of them.

It's not a transfer that will happen in January with the summer transfer window the earliest chance to sign him.