Florian Wirtz can finally get Mohamed Salah the Ballon d'Or! Winners and losers of Liverpool's record-breaking £116m capture of Bayer Leverkusen's magician as Arne Slot beats Pep Guardiola to statement signing

There were a lot of question marks around Arne Slot when he was chosen to succeed the beloved Jurgen Klopp in the Anfield hot seat last summer. He delivered the Eredivisie title at Feyenoord in 2022-23, but his side subsequently finished seven points behind champions PSV in the following season, and the Dutchman had no coaching experience outside of his homeland to speak of.

Some critics felt Slot would just be another Erik ten Hag - the former Ajax manager who failed so spectacularly at Manchester United - while others felt he lacked the charisma that made Klopp such a revered figure on Merseyside. But within the space of just a few months, all those doubts were extinguished, as Liverpool stormed to the top of both the Premier League and the Champions League league phase table.

The Reds ended up being ousted from Europe by eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain, but clinched their second Premier League crown with four games to spare, and finished the season with the best attacking record in the division. Slot didn't just carry on the Klopp blueprint; he improved on it, despite only making one summer signing in the form of £10m winger Federico Chiesa.

Now, Slot is recognised as one of the best coaches on the planet, and that's one of the main reasons why Wirtz has chosen Anfield. Last season wasn't just a one-off for Liverpool; Slot is dynasty-planning after proving he deserves to be backed in the transfer market. Wirtz's arrival will pave the way for plenty more marquee signings as Liverpool strive to dominate on both domestic and European fronts for years to come.

Bayern Munich are used to having everything their way in Germany. They're expected to sweep the top domestic prizes every year, and on the rare occasions they fall short, the green light is given to raid their closest rivals.

Leverkusen defender Jonathan Tah is the latest man to succumb to the lure of guaranteed success at Bayern, following in the footsteps of Bundesliga legends like Michael Ballack, Manuel Neuer and Robert Lewandowski. But for once, Bayern did not land the big fish.

Despite reportedly offering Wirtz a higher salary package, he opted for Liverpool over Bayern. The Germany international is said to have been more convinced by the sporting project at Anfield, which is a humiliating blow for Bayern and their current head coach, Vincent Kompany.

It's easy to imagine Wirtz linking up with Harry Kane to devastating effect, but Bayern's disappointing 2024-25 Champions League campaign showed they still have a long way to go as a collective to reach the very top again. The Bundesliga champions' pulling power has dwindled and Wirtz is unlikely to be the only ambitious young star to turn down their advances this summer.

Mohamed Salah was the best player in the Premier League last season. A staggering 47 goal involvements in 38 games represented his best return yet for the Reds, and for the first half of the campaign especially, the Egyptian was almost unplayable.

Unfortunately, it almost certainly will not be enough to win the Ballon d'Or over PSG's Champions League hero Ousmane Dembele or Barcelona wonderkid Lamine Yamal. Salah's output dropped down the finishing stretch, and given the current voting set up, he will almost certainly be penalised for exiting Europe's elite competition at the round of 16 stage.

But even after turning 33 this month, Salah's Golden Ball ambitions are not totally dead in the water. The 2025 prize may be out of his reach, but linking up with Wirtz might just give him the edge next year.

Salah won't have to shoulder so much of the creative burden now that Wirtz is backing him up. His assists total may drop, but Liverpool's talismanic forward could potentially score even more goals with the Leverkusen maestro on hand to provide world-class service, and he's thus less likely to run out of steam in the final portion of the season.

Cody Gakpo's first two seasons at Liverpool were somewhat underwhelming, but Slot managed to bring the best out of the former PSV star in 2024-25. Under Klopp, Gakpo was deployed mostly as a striker and found himself in and out of the starting line up as a result, but one of Slot's first orders of business was to make the Netherlands international Liverpool's first-choice left winger, and it paid off.

The 26-year-old registered a combined 25 goals and assists across all competitions in his first campaign under Slot, becoming a key source of defence-splitting passes while also wreaking havoc with his late runs into the penalty area. But the signing of Wirtz might just put Gakpo back to square one.

Wirtz regularly played as an inverted winger off the left at Leverkusen, and could be a better partner than Gakpo for rumoured Liverpool target Milo Kerkez, who has mastered the art of quick overlaps at Bournemouth. Interestingly, Gakpo is now being strongly linked with Bayern, which may be an indication that the Dutch forward is already questioning whether he and Wirtz can both fit into Slot's XI.

There has always been a disconnect between Liverpool fans and the Fenway Sports Group (FSG), who completed a £300m ($407m) takeover at Anfield back in 2010. That's mainly because of a perceived lack of investment in the squad from the American company, founded by John W. Henry, who is also the principal owner of Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox and the National Hockey League's Pittsburgh Penguins.

But splashing out on Wirtz will go a long way to building some bridges. It's a major statement of intent from FSG that shows they are serious about making Liverpool the world's best club side once again.

The record deal is also a golden seal of approval for Slot. FSG trusts the manager's judgement, perhaps even more than they did Klopp. Liverpool are certainly in far better shape to build on their Premier League success than in 2019-20 after the signings of Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong, with it suggested that the owners will splash the cash on another two or three targets before the start of the new campaign.

Manchester City have already made three major summer signings themselves, in the form of Rayan Ait-Nouri, Rayan Cherki and Tijjani Reijnders, but it's no secret that Wirtz was their No.1 target. After deciding to cut ties with legendary midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, City needed a ready-made successor, and Wirtz more than fit the bill.

City were reportedly leading the race for Wirtz at one stage, but cooled their interest as Leverkusen's demands increased. According to BBC Sport, City did not believe that a £256m ($348m) outlay on Wirtz, including the transfer fee and salary package, represented good value for money and walked away, just as they did in the past when chasing Frenkie de Jong and Harry Maguire.

But this time, the club's decision could come back to bite Pep Guardiola. Cherki is also an exciting talent, but he's not the same profile as De Bruyne. Wirtz could have given City everything the Belgian did in his prime, and potentially more. Instead, he'll now be running the show for a Liverpool team that was already five steps ahead of City, and that will be keeping Guardiola up nights regardless of how many more new faces come through the Etihad doors this summer.

According to Cadena SER, Barcelona have placed Luis Diaz at the top of their wishlist as they aim to bring in a new left winger. The La Liga champions are said to rate Diaz even more highly than Athletic Club's Nico Williams, and it has been suggested Liverpool would reluctantly let the Colombian depart if they received an offer in the region of £70m ($95m).

How Barcelona could afford such a fee amid their ongoing financial crisis is anyone's guess, but Liverpool's purchase of Wirtz does at least give them a chance of arranging a deal. Diaz operated mainly as false nine last season, with mixed results, and Wirtz has also played through the middle for Leverkusen at times.

If the Reds decide against signing another central striker after Darwin Nunez's expected exit, it's possible Slot could ask Wirtz to lead the line. With Gakpo favoured on the left wing, Diaz is expendable now. Barca will almost certainly need to make one or two major sales of their own first, but a deal is there to be done if they want Diaz badly enough.

"I don't really want to be wasting years [of] my career. I just want to improve and be the best possible version of myself," Harvey Elliott said after joining up with the England Under-21s squad for this summer's European Championship. "If that's to go somewhere else, then it's a decision that I'm going to have to make and I just need to see what happens."

It's not hard to see where Elliott is coming from. Many expected the 22-year-old to be a regular in the senior England squad by now, but he's still waiting for his debut after finding club minutes hard to come by under Slot.

Elliot made 28 appearances for Liverpool last term, but only six of them came as a starter, and things will only get worse for the youngster after Wirtz is integrated into the squad. They are both No.10s by trade, and if Elliot wasn't doing enough to usurp Dominik Szoboszlai, it's fair to say he hasn't got a prayer of keeping Liverpool's new record signing on the bench.

Elliott is a gifted player in his own right with plenty of potential, but he won't unlock it Anfield. A summer exit is in the best interest of all parties concerned.