Bayern Munich sporting director Max Eberl lay out the red carpet for Liverpool to sign Florian Wirtz, just hours before the Reds agreed to pay a British record transfer fee to sign the Bayer Leverkusen star.

Liverpool tabled a third bid to the German club worth £100m plus £14m in add-ons - and a deal was eventually struck between the two sides after the Premier League outfit agreed to pay them an additional £16m in bonuses payments.

Bayern Munich, at one stage, led the race to sign Wirtz - before reluctantly conceding the advantage to Liverpool over the past few weeks.

Just hours before the £116m deal was agreed between Liverpool and Leverkusen, in a comment which underscores the growing financial disparity between the Premier League and its rivals, Bayern Munich chief Eberl revealed a lack of funds would have made signing Wirtz close to impossible.

'If I'm honest, I don't know if we could have paid what Liverpool are apparently paying now,' the Bayern grandee told Sky Germany. 

'Florian Wirtz is an outstanding player. We could have imagined signing him. But when a door closes, another opens.' 

His comments conflict a recent report written by German newspaper Bild, which claimed that Bayern would have been willing to offer the 22-year-old a better pay packet than the Reds.  

Liverpool made it clear they did not wish to pay the £126m asking price, but have still ended up paying a British record.

The deal now exceeds the £115m Chelsea paid Brighton for Moises Caicedo in 2023.

Manchester City also pulled out of the race for Wirtz earlier this summer due to the spiralling costs involved.  

Liverpool have already signed Jeremie Frimpong from Leverkusen for £29.5m and plan to add Milos Kerkez from Bournemouth as they look to wrap up Wirtz.

They still have designs on improving their forward options and centre of defence before the end of the summer.

Germany international Wirtz is regarded as one of the best playmakers in European football and has already spoken in detail with manager Arne Slot over how he will fit into the Dutchman's plans.