Where's the Florian Wirtz money, John? Oh, there it is

Fenway Sports Group show transfer ambition that changes Liverpool narrative

FSG supremo John Henry (GETTY IMAGES)

John Henry was trending on ‘X’ on the morning of June 13. It was overwhelmingly positive and the curious band of namerandombunchofnumbers social media accounts that have a deep desire for #FSGOut were pretty quiet.

Memes of Donald Trump saying how ‘John Henry is a great businessman, a GREAT businessman’ were doing the rounds from a public address on the lawns of the White House during his first term as president, and that picture of Henry smoking a cigar the size of those comedy ones you could get on holiday in Lanzarote in the 1990s were everywhere. It perhaps wasn’t what the owners had expected.

So, are we all #FSGIn now? There really shouldn’t be a side to take. Liverpool are a superb football team that wins things, hires good people, invests in its stadium and its training ground and have turned into a financial powerhouse once again. Arguments against the ownership are fuelled by a lack of transfer market dopamine.

Oh, and speaking of some transfer market dopamine, Liverpool have come to an agreement with Bayer Leverkusen for Florian Wirtz, with a fee of £116m (£100m plus £16m in add-ons) the price to be paid to bring one of European football's shining lights to Anfield.

The move represents a British transfer record and the reigning Premier League champions look ready to go again, something that is ominous for their rivals. It is a transfer that could change the narrative behind the owners of Liverpool, who despite delivering on and off pitch success haven't been able to win over an entire fanbase in their 15 years at the helm.

For so long under the ownership of Fenway Sports Group, Liverpool were something of the outliers when it came to transfer spending in the market, preferring to focus on the underlying data and sniff out a bargain for players with a low price but high ceiling.

The perceived lack of ambition in the transfer market by FSG, which is always linked to the price paid for players and never seems to take into account the actual impact, has been something that has been a hot topic of discussion every single transfer window.

This summer they are to break the British transfer record and on course for a summer spend that will comfortably pass £200m. The wallet that some Reds fans in corners of social media have claimed that John W. Henry had lost appears to have been found, and it’s pretty flush.