Revisiting Liverpool’s alternative targets in 2025
Florian Wirtz has found it tough so far to prove himself at Liverpool after his £116m move in the summer of 2025 – but would they have been better off signing a different target?
Liverpool acted quickly to sign Wirtz on the back of winning the Premier League. Competition for the German playmaker had been strong, with Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester City touted as alternative destinations. But it was the then-champions who won the battle.
Alas, Liverpool have got little value from their £116m investment ever since. Wirtz only scored five Premier League goals last season, with the first not coming until after Christmas.
And he’s still without a goal to his name this season too. Any predictions that Andoni Iraola replacing Arne Slot as manager might improve Wirtz’s fortunes haven’t come true yet.
So, was the signing of Wirtz a mistake? He was their dream target from the get-go, so there wasn’t much time for them to think about alternatives, but we’ve taken a look at a handful of other attacking midfielders Liverpool were linked with last summer to see if any have fared better.
Morgan Gibbs-White
The 2024-25 season was a breakthrough one for Gibbs-White – and the big clubs took note.
There were whispers of him being on Liverpool’s shortlist for pretty much the entire second half of the season.
In the end, it was Tottenham who came closest to signing him, but Nottingham Forest managed to tie him down to a new deal instead.
Gibbs-White’s goal output went up again last season; he scored 15 times in the league, being a rare bright spot in a turbulent season for Forest.
Matheus Cunha
Cunha was another early mover in the summer 2025 transfer window, but his destination was Manchester United.
The Brazilian had been a standout for Wolves, but Liverpool reportedly backed away from the race to sign him.
According to a Daily Mail report at the time, Liverpool felt ‘well stocked’ in his position and ‘were not 100 per cent convinced about where and how he would fit into the squad’ – especially while prioritising Wirtz.
Cunha had a reasonable first season at Man Utd, scoring 10 times in the league. But it was equally true that he didn’t nail down a specific position to regularly be the starter in, splitting his gametime between roles as a left winger and centre-forward.
Rodrygo
Rodrygo wouldn’t have been a like-for-like alternative to Wirtz, but Spanish outlet Sport suggested he was the plan B if Liverpool missed out.
Given they later sold Luis Diaz to Bayern in the same summer – and the issues that followed for Mohamed Salah in his last season at Liverpool – signing a winger of Rodrygo’s pedigree might have been a better use of FSG’s funds.
A further point in favour of that argument is that one of Liverpool’s best players last season was Dominik Szoboszlai, who had to play deeper than before but was used to operating in the same territory as Wirtz.
Rodrygo, though, didn’t have a brilliant 2025-26 season for Real Madrid, only scoring once from 19 games in La Liga before injuring his ACL – a problem he’s still nursing now.
Xavi Simons
One of the other big Bundesliga attacking midfield talents in demand last summer, Simons was reportedly scouted by Liverpool towards the end of the 2024-25 season.
Some outlets even said they were ready to make an offer for his services, but it appears that never materialised.
Instead, Tottenham took the chance to sign Simons from RB Leipzig. But like Wirtz, he has struggled to convert his Bundesliga form to the Premier League.
In fact, he struggled even more, only scoring twice in his debut Premier League season.
Eberechi Eze
Eze had outgrown Crystal Palace by the end of their FA Cup-winning 2024-25 campaign.
The Independent reckoned Liverpool could ‘activate long-standing interest’ in signing him that summer, when he was available for a £60m release clause.
But Arsenal already had a head start on a deal for Eze and eventually won the race, turning him into a Premier League winner a year later.
Eze scored seven goals on course to Arsenal’s title win, three of which were in one game against another of his unsuccessful suitors, Tottenham.
However, Eze is yet to start a league game this season.
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