Liverpool set to lose out on 11-goal Bundesliga star as Chelsea move into pole position

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Liverpool have already been one of the busiest clubs in England ahead of the summer transfer window.

While no new arrivals have been officially confirmed, multiple players seem close to getting a deal over the line.

One of those is Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz who, at the start of the transfer window, was one of the most talked about players on the market with both Manchester City and Bayern Munich ready to battle Liverpool for his transfer.

In the end, it seems that the German has chosen to take the next step in his career with Liverpool, which has left some question marks regarding other targets Arne Slot’s men have already been linked with.

Xavi Simons is no longer a target for Liverpool as Chelsea take the lead in transfer chase

Xavi Simons has been making his way up the ranks over the last few seasons with the Dutchman already having an illustrious career playing for some of the biggest teams in Europe such as Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain.

At the moment he plies his trade with RB Leipzig and as per a report from Bild as summarised by Fussball Transfers, it seems that the Reds’ interest in Wirtz has turned their attention away from Simons.

The report adds that Simons’ path now ‘leads to Chelsea’ while also mentioning that Liverpool are now ‘out of the running.’

Bayern were the other team interested in Simons, but he’s now not a ‘concrete consideration’ for them either.

And, even though Simons ‘wants to leave’ Leipzig, a buyer hasn’t yet come forward.

Liverpool are correct to favour Florian Wirtz over Xavi Simons

The fact that Liverpool are even being linked with a player of Wirtz’s calibre is a surprise in itself.

Over the last few years, Liverpool haven’t been the biggest spenders in the league, but the fact that Liverpool are willing to break their club-record fee for the German outlines how good a player he is.

Now that the Reds’ full attention seems to have turned to Wirtz, the Liverpool manager must do everything he can in order to bring him to Anfield.

Statistically, he had a much better season than Simons, and to be quite frank, he looks to be the more complete player of the two with the German even beating Dominik Szoboszlai in terms of goals contributed.

While there are other areas within the Liverpool squad that need strengthening, such as their left-back and perhaps a striker, the addition of Wirtz would be a major statement of intent.

And, if Liverpool can pull it off, it’s hard to see how they wouldn’t be able to retain the Premier League title next season.