You could’ve given me a thousand guesses and I still wouldn’t get it.
Football fans are more than confused after hearing who Bayer Leverkusen and Germany star Florian Wirtz’s footballing idol is.
Wirtz has quickly become one of the standout players in the Bundesliga and has been a key contributor to Leverkusen’s amazing league title win and could help them lift the Europa League final on Wednesday night in Dublin.
The 21-year-old made history when he became the youngest player to make his debut for the club at 17 before going on to become the youngest goalscorer in Bundesliga history.
‘I learnt that from him’
With 18 goals and 20 assists to his name this season, Wirtz is expected to be one of Germany’s star players at Euro 2024 and has been linked with a move to the Premier League this summer.
But for all of his success, people were left shell-shocked after hearing who his inspiration is, with many claiming he’s better than his idol.
A compilation of him answering the question saw Wirtz reveal that Barcelona’s Joao Felix is his idol.
“He’s a similar type of player to me, he’s very creative and I learnt that from him,” he said.
— Marwan (@MarwanBassam12) March 20, 2024
Felix was initially touted to become one of football’s biggest talents when he first emerged on the scene at Benfica, eventually moving to Atletico Madrid for £113m in 2019.
The move would ultimately prove to not be success and the 24-year-old eventually fell out of favour under Diego Simeone.
He’s spent the last two seasons out on loan at Chelsea and Barcelona, leading to many believing that Wirtz is better than his own idol.
“How do you idolize worse players than yourself?,” wrote one person.
“Only player that is better than his own idol, added a second.
A third commented: “Bro is better than his idol.”
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