Travers Smith has scored a lead role on the transfer of German footballer Florian Wirtz to Liverpool FC, a deal which is set to become a new record for a fee paid by a British football club.
The reported transfer fee for Wirtz – who is joining the Premier League champions after five years at German club Bayer Leverkusen – is £100m plus a further £16m in add-ons.
Travers acted alongside German law firm Seitz Partners, with the London firm advising the Wirtz family on the UK legal issues connected with the transfer, fielding a team including employment partner Ed Mills and tax lawyers Elissavet Grout and Tom Margesson – both of whom are set to become partners at the firm on 1 July.
Seitz, which is based in Cologne, handled what the firm described as ‘intensive negotiations’ with Liverpool FC, with a team including founding partners Stefan Seitz, employment partner Maximilian Schmidt and tax partner Sebastian Benz.
In its press release announcing the deal, Travers added that it has also recently been advising on the acquisition of an unspecified Premier League football club.
The Wirtz deal comes after intellectual property boutique Brandsmiths played a key role on another high-profile move between the same clubs, advising on Dutch international Jeremie Frimpong’s £29.5m transfer from Leverkusen to Liverpool.
A team led by Manchester-based partner and sports law specialist David Seligman advised Frimpong and his agent on the move.
Frimpong is a longstanding client of Brandsmiths, with the Manchester and London-based firm also advising the defender and his agent on his contract renewal at Leverkusen in 2023.
