Exclusive: Bastian Schweinsteiger compares Florian Wirtz to football legend nobody else has said and it will excite Liverpool fans

Bastian Schweinsteiger revealed his disappointment at seeing Bayer Leverkusen star Florian Wirtz seemingly opting to complete a move to Liverpool over Bayern Munich and believes the 22-year-old is reminiscent of one of his former teammates.

Wirtz is widely expected to complete a move to Anfield this summer, with Liverpool in negotiations over a potential club-record £126m deal as Arne Slot looks to build on the Reds' title-winning campaign during his first season in charge at the club.

And news of Wirtz's decision to leave his homeland and reject the opportunity to join Germany's biggest club in Bayern has not gone down particularly well, with Schweinsteiger explaining exactly what Liverpool will get from a player who netted 16 times in 45 appearances across all competitions in 2024/25, offering a comparison to a French football legend in the process.

Speaking on the eve of the Champions League final as part of Heineken's Cheers to the Superstitious Fans campaign, Schweinsteiger explained: “He’s a typical number 10 in terms of receiving the ball in the right moment, passing the ball in the right moment and he’s not only like a playmaker, he’s also working very hard against the ball which fits to Liverpool’s style as well so he’s doing defensively a very good job on the field and what I like is offensive players who can also defend.

Wirtz has been compared to Champions League winner Franck Ribery. Image: Getty.

"He’s not the tallest obviously but I see in him Franck Ribery, who also was able to use his body very smartly against tall players so he’s capable of it. The Premier League is tough, it’s difficult physically, but he’s so smart and quick in his brain so he will find the positions where it’s difficult to catch him.”

Leverkusen have already lost Jeremie Frimpong and manager Xabi Alonso ahead of a transitional summer for the club, with Erik ten Hag having succeeded Alonso and keen to put his own stamp on the club but he will be powerless to prevent Wirtz from leaving.

But Schweinsteiger does not doubt the 22-year-old's ability to adapt in a new league, even if he would prefer he stay in Germany with his former club.

“Personally, obviously I am of course disappointed to lose a player like him from the Bundesliga because if you have the best players playing in your league, the league is getting more attractive," he said.

“In Munich, people were surprised about that move that he’s not going to Bayern and joining the Premier League. Okay, it’s a new challenge for him, so you can see it that way, a new opportunity and he already showed his qualities in the Bundesliga.

Florian Wirtz wants his transfer to be wrapped up quickly. Image: Getty

"Obviously, if you play for Bayern Munich, definitely it is a little bit on top of the other teams in the Bundesliga so it’s different pressure to handle and he would for sure also develop in Munich as well his mentality, personality and game style but Liverpool is doing a fantastic job.

"They won the Premier League, actually Liverpool was my favourite as well for the Champions League so I was very surprised that Paris knocked them out in this way and for Florian, it will be a huge step. "First time leaving Germany, okay England is not that far from Leverkusen where his family is from but he will grow as a person over there. Fantastic coach, fantastic team so I guess he will settle in very well and very quick.”

Schweinsteiger is of course no stranger to these shores having played for Manchester United between 2015 and 2017 and recalled one of the most eye-opening incidents during his spell at Old Trafford that helped speed up his transition to life in England.

The German explained how he famously followed a superstition before each and every match he played in after hearing about Inter Milan fan Marco Simeone's decision to avoid watching the Champions League final due to his belief that he was a jinx to the club he supports.

Marco was sent to a purpose-built bar in a remote outpost of Germany to keep him as far as possible away from the action having become known among his friends for his extraordinary run of bad luck, claiming his team loses every time he’s in the stadium.

And while Schweinsteiger's pre-match superstition may never be quite as dramatic, the Champions League and World Cup winner can relate to fans who insist on sticking to routine around games.

“Personally I must say you have certain rituals before the games like in my case, as soon as I entered the dressing room, I took my socks and made them wet because they were a bit more stretched and thinner so the contact through the boots with the ball was shorter," he said.

Inter Milan fan Marco Simeone refused to watch the game as he feared jinxing his team. Image: Heineken.

“And I also put my boots into hot water to soften them a little bit and took a shower always before. There was a certain order. First, socks. Then I took a shower, then my boots.

“I started around 2008 when I was 24. In England, it was tough because [some of] the dressing rooms were smaller. So I went to Crystal Palace, the dressing room was smaller so the kitman and the medical staff, they actually put their benches over there for example. And I said ‘come on, I need to do my rituals!’.”

As part of its Cheers to the Superstitious Fans campaign, Heineken® sent a self-confessed 'Inter Milan jinx' to a remote bar in Germany. Even that wasn’t enough to change PSG’s fate-sealing five-goal triumph.