In summer, the club's main asset for the last 3-4 years left Leverkusen Bayer. Some respected legendary figures for Bayer and all German football in general, such as, for example, Rudy Feller, called Kai Havertz the best player in the history of the Leverkusen club. King Kai moved to Chelsea, scoring 46 goals and 31 assists in 150 appearances in all competitions for Bayer Leverkusen - stunning performance as a midfielder.

Of course, after Havertz left (besides, the second best scoring player, Kevin Volland, also left the club with Kai), the Apothecary fans became sad and entered the new season with great anxiety.. However, already now, at the end of December and the covered 1/3 of the distance of the season, we can confidently declare that the experiences did not come true. Bayer Peter Bosch is in second place in the Bundesliga standings after 13 rounds, only 2 points behind Bayern Munich. The team confidently passed the group stage of the Europa League (5 wins in 6 games), and also easily overcame the first round in the German Cup.

Amazingly, Bayer also has a player following an alarmingly similar trajectory to Havertz.. You guessed it, his name is Florian Wirtz.

Havertz won the Fritz Walter Gold Medal (an award given to Germany's most talented young players in different age groups) at the U19 level in 2018. Wirtz won a similar award at the U17 level. Havertz was the youngest debutant and scorer in Bayer's history until Wirtz arrived - Flo broke both records..

In May, at the age of 17 years and 15 days, Wirtz made his debut for Bayer's first team in a match against Werder Bremen, which ended in a confident 4-1 victory. And the talented midfielder scored his debut goal against not just anyone - but against Bayern Munich. Although Leverkusen lost there (2: 4), but for the club it was a significant day - apart from club records, Wirtz also became the youngest scorer in the Bundesliga - 17 years and 34 days (the previous record belonged to Nuri Shahin - 17 years and 82. This achievement has now been updated by Dortmund's teenager Yussuf Mukoko.

After Wirtz's debut match for Bayer, Peter Bosch said the following: “Florian was not nervous at all, although it was his debut match in the Bundesliga, besides, he started. Calmly held the ball and played in the attack. I'm not surprised though: if he trains with us, he must be a good player. "

Wirtz's debut goal in the Bundesliga:.

At the same time, it is important to say that Wirtz is not the fruit of the work of the academy of the Leverkusen club, like Kai Havertz, but the success of the breeding department. Bayer had been following Florian for a long time and in January of this year lured him out of the Cologne academy, where Wirtz had been playing since he was six..

" Florian is an incredible talent. I know he could have gone to Liverpool, Bavaria or Dortmund. Everyone wanted this guy "

Wirtz chose Bayer for at least two reasons:.

- firstly, he did not have to move, which is quite an important factor at such a young age. Distance from Cologne to Leverkusen - about 20 km. Many Bayer players live in the much larger Cologne.

- Florian was impressed by the examples of Kai Havertz, Julian Brand, Benjamin Henriks, who made their debut in the Champions League at a very young age and moved to more status teams without any problems.

Peter Bosch, realizing that Havertz would most likely leave the club before the start of the new season, quite actively introduced Virz. Sometimes Flo played with Kai, and sometimes he came out instead.. Wirtz and Havertz are really similar midfielders in profile - both attackers, they have a great understanding of the spaces, they burst well into the penalty area through the vertical corridors, they open perfectly between the lines, they have a good vision of the field, they can either give the last pass or complete the attack personally, taking the initiative. At the same time, Wirtz seems to be better defended, perhaps more able-bodied even. But slightly inferior to Havertz in some grace in attacking actions. At least for now.

Here is what Jorg Jacobs, director of the Cologne Academy, said about Wirtz:.

" I have not often seen an attacker who works so hard to avoid being beaten despite the fact that he could rely solely on his attacking abilities.. He wants to win every defensive duel and that makes him a full-fledged player. "

By the way, Wirtz has another similarity with Havertz - he, like Kai in his time, misses Bayer matches because of exams at school..

However, the school did not prevent the 17-year-old boy from becoming one of the best Bayer players in the first part of the season in terms of performance. Flo has 10 points (5 + 5) in 18 games this season. He has scored in all three tournaments (2 in the Bundesliga, 2 in the Europa League, 1 in the German Cup) in which he takes part.

According to Transfermarkt, Wirtz is one of the most valuable players born in 2003 in the world today.. At the beginning of summer, its cost was 10 million, and now it is almost 25.

Top 5 most valuable U-17 players:.

Harvey Elliott (Liverpool, now on loan in Blackburn) - 8m € 4. Jamal Musiala (Bavaria) - € 10m 3.

Florian Wirtz (Bayer) - 24m 2. Ryan Cherky (Lyon) - 25m 1. Jude Bellingham (Borussia D) - 27 million Leverkusen Bayer has always boasted great midfield performers, many of whom have become elite-level players - Michael Ballack, Ze Roberto, Arturo Vidal, Toni Kroos, Kai Havertz... It seems that the potential of Florian Wirtz is definitely not worse than those listed. To what extent the current " But the fact that Bayer has a really cool modern midfielder right now is absolutely certain..