Florian Richard Wirtz was born on May 3rd, 2003, in Pulheim, Germany. A precociously gifted footballer he was snapped up by local club Cologne aged just seven and developed through their youth system.
There he stayed for close to a decade, excelling at every level, until a controversial move to Bayer Leverkusen in 2020 saw him fast-tracked to their first-team, quickly becoming a Bundesliga star.
| Per year | €4,642,658 | £3,951,774 |
| Per month | €386,888 | £329,314 |
| Per week | €89,281 | £75,994 |
| Per day | €12,719 | £10,826 |
| Per hour | €529 | £450 |
| Per minute | €8 | £6 |
International recognition followed soon after, Wirtz representing the future of German football, and though serious injury has hampered his progress along the way, this swift rise to the top was capped in 2023/24 when he helped inspire Leverkusen to defy the Bundesliga odds and win their first ever league title.
Still only 21, in many respects the story is just beginning for the talented attacking midfielder but already it’s a tale packed with incident. And already it’s made him a very wealthy young man.
How Much Is Florian Wirtz Worth?
With three years remaining on a lengthy contract, Wirtz is presently on a yearly salary of £3,952,000 basic at Leverkusen, a hefty sum topped up generously with bonuses.
For winning the league, each player is said to have received close to six figures.
Top Team Goalscorer - Florian Wirtz
Besides driving the obligatory footballer supercar – in his case a top-of-the-range black Mercedes – the youngster lives a fairly modest life, holidaying on German beaches with his family where he enjoys jet-skiing and boating.
He has only recently moved out of his family home, purchasing his first property.
Wirtz’s only extravagance is a love for fashion but for everyday attire he is contracted to wear Adidas, a deal that nets the player £1.5m per year. The midfielder’s net worth is estimated at £9m.
Controversial Move
Wirtz joined Cologne’s youth academy as a young boy and soon became one of the most highly regarded youngsters in his country.
Aged 16 he won the Fritz Walter medal, an award given to the brightest prospect in Germany. That same year he inspired the ‘Billy Goats’ to an U17 Bundesliga title.
So far then, so straightforward. Having come through Cologne’s ranks, Wirtz was now on the cusp of becoming a homegrown star.
Only then, noting how Leverkusen, just half an hour’s drive down the road, habitually promoted their young players into the first-team set-up the player – stalling on signing a new contract at the time - demanded a move.
This immediately attracted serious interest from Juventus and Bayern but it was Bayer he wanted and Bayer he got.
What made the situation all-the-worse was that both clubs – along with their fellow Rhineland side Borussia Monchengladbach – had previously had a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ not to poach each other’s young talent.
Wirtz gets booed every time he faces Cologne and likely this will be the case until he retires.
Unexpected Glory
Making his professional debut for Die Schwarzroten aged just 17 years and 15 days, Wirtz became the youngest ever player for the club. Two months later he became their youngest ever goal-scorer too, notching against Bayern Munich.
Indeed, it was all going swimmingly for the prodigiously talented youngster until he tore his ACL – ironically against Cologne – in March 2022. It kept him out of action for nearly a year.
On his return, the midfielder was intent on making up for lost time, seeing out the 2022/23 campaign in style and starting the season just gone as if on a mission.
He completed a hat-trick of assists in a single game in the Europa League. In the Bundesliga, he was sensational week in, week out.
The same can be said of his team-mates too, and orchestrated by Xabi Alonso, looking cool and handsome in the technical area, Bayer went through the entire season undefeated.
After finishing runner-up in the league on five previous occasions, between 1997 and 2011, Bayer had finally secured a Bundesliga title. Wirtz scored a hat-trick in the game that confirmed their famous feat.
Florian Wirtz Family
The player’s parents, Hans-Joachim and Karin, jointly act as his agent while his dad is also chairman of SV Grun-Weiss Brauweiller, the local club where it all began for Florian.
His sister meanwhile is also a professional footballer, turning out for Werder Bremen.
Football then runs deep through his family.
Which makes it amusing that the Bayer star has nine siblings all told. Play Karin at left-back and put Hans-Joachim in the dug-out and the Wirtzes could have their very own team.
Euro 2024 And Transfer Rumours
This summer the 21-year-old has the hopes of a nation on his shoulders, being Germany’s most effervescent star as Die Mannschaft host the Euros.
A string of impressive performances for his country bodes well and Wirtz is tipped to significantly improve his reputation and stature by the time the tournament is done. At club level meanwhile, links to Real Madrid persist, with figures north of £120m being bandied about.
A player with magic in his boots, who can subvert the live betting with a moment of genius, is always going to be much coveted, and is always destined to reach the very top.
Wirtz’s story is only going to get more interesting still.
*Credit for the main photo belongs to Alamy*
