Bayer Leverkusen chief Fernando Carro has opened up on Florian Wirtz's transfer to Liverpool and why he didn't sign for Real Madrid or Bayern Munich instead.
Bayer Leverkusen chief Fernando Carro has suggested that Florian Wirtz would have snubbed Liverpool for Real Madrid had Los Blancos made an offer for the Germany international. The Merseyside club beat competition from Bayern Munich and Manchester City to secure the midfielder in a transfer potentially worth £116million.
The 22-year-old had previously been heavily linked with a move to the iconic Santiago Bernabeu, with rumours intensifying after Xabi Alonso departed Bayer Leverkusen to take charge at Real Madrid. Carro believes Wirtz would have seized the chance to link up again with Alonso in the Spanish capital - having won the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal under the former midfielder at the BayArena - while explaining why a move to Spain failed to happen.
"He would certainly have gone to Madrid, Carro told SPORT1's Doppelpass. "If Xabi had made the offer. But Xabi has less say at Madrid than he does with us.
"One of Xabi Alonso's great strengths was his ability to work with our scouting department to define who needed to be in our team. At Real Madrid, it was different, Florentino Perez decides the transfers, not Xabi Alonso."
Wirtz had earlier disclosed that Alonso was delighted to see the playmaker join his former employers at Anfield.
"He was really happy that I am coming here," the German revealed when undergoing his medical. "Because he was telling me he came also at 22 to Liverpool."
Meanwhile, Carro also shared that Leverkusen had been prepared to shatter their wage structure to try and keep Wirtz at the club, indicating it appeared that an extension might be secured at one stage but admitted the German side had 'pestered him too much'.
"The Wirtz family and Florian knew that extending their contracts was our top priority," he added. "We were very cautious with salaries during the summer transfers.
"But we would have been prepared to make an exception for Florian. Definitely in a range that Bayer Leverkusen has never seen before.
"We were prepared to cross the line and give everything to extend the contract. And for a while, it looked like it might work out.
"I know that we sometimes pestered him too much. But, in the end, Florian decided what he wanted to do, as his parents are his advisors, and I think it's good that they fully respect Florian's wishes."
Carro also acknowledged that Wirtz's ambition to lift the Champions League was a driving force behind his decision to depart Leverkusen, and he confirmed that - despite reports claiming otherwise at the time - the midfielder never struck an agreement with Bayern Munich.
"I don't think that was ever true (about Bayern)," he said. "Our information from Papa Wirtz was; 'That's not correct'.
"He's someone who wants to win the Champions League. We thought that with this team we would have been able to go further than we did. He saw that we had won the German championship, but winning the Champions League with Bayer Leverkusen might be more difficult."