Florian Wirtz’s parents are not driving his career forward for the purpose of maximizing profits. They would prefer that their son could continue to develop in Leverkusen under coach Xabi Alonso – but he has an exit clause for Real Madrid.
People usually know exactly where they were when the big things in world history happened, the fall of the Wall and the like. Hans-Joachim Wirtz, 69, can also tell straight away where he was when Nicolas Höfler was recently shaken by feelings of dizziness he had never experienced before because his opponent had outplayed him three times within six seconds. Freiburg’s experienced strategist Höfler, 33, and Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz, 20, met in the scene in question in an almost unsportsmanlike, unequal duel: one driven into constant retreat, the other inexorably advancing into the penalty area, describing turning circles while dribbling , for which the beer mat was no longer sufficient as the traditional reference size for area measurement.