Real Madrid Transfers: Three best U-19 prospects to keep an eye on
Florian Wirtz
When Kai Havertz left Bayern Leverkusen in the summer of 2020, he left a huge void in the heart of Leverkusen after leading them to a fourth-place finish in the 2018/19 season. With the €80 million they received from the Havertz transfer to Chelsea, they could’ve easily secured a high-profile signing in order to replace their star man but interestingly Bayer Leverkusen didn’t even make a move for any attacking midfielder that summer.
Bayer showed their immense belief in promising young talent Florian Wirtz who was already receiving a lot of attention in Die Werkself’s youth team, and they got rewarded handsomely.
The 19-year-old German attacking midfielder has been on a tear for the past three seasons with Bayer Leverkusen and has transformed himself into becoming an integral part of their team. Wirtz has made a total of 76 appearances with Leverkusen during which he scored 22 goals and registered 19 assists across all competitions.
The teenage sensation has a quite distinct style of play — Wirtz tends to operate at the right channel of the attacking midfield role while sometimes dropping down to make a single pivot and offering the centre-backs passing options whenever a tight situation arises.
Wirtz is always quick to identify the space around him and finds himself in a place where he could eventually provide a potential ‘killer pass’ if the ball ends up at his feet. His developed chemistry with the forwards helps him to calculate the runs beforehand and pass the ball quickly resulting in fast-paced gameplay.
Wirtz makes up for his lack of physicality with his positional awareness and his precisive passing techniques but he still has a long way to go in mastering them as there are instances where he sits back a lot when he could easily make a run to support the attack or when he should pass the ball quickly but ends up getting overpowered by an opponent defender.
Wirtz’s recent contract renewal with Die Werkself until 2027 will provide Real Madrid with ample time to analyse his upcoming performances before making a move for him in the future. Personally, I see him operating well with the Real Madrid system as his playing style of being patient and not indulging in rash decisions makes him a player who suits the profile of Real Madrid.