Manchester City and Real Madrid have suffered a transfer blow with Bayer Leverkusen star Florian Wirtz reportedly only keen to join Bayern Munich.
Wirtz had been touted as a replacement for the outgoing Kevin De Bruyne and the reigning European champions were also interested in the German international.
But he has told Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso he is only open to a move to the newly-crowned German champions, according to Sport Bild.
Wirtz still has two years remaining on his contract at Leverkusen and the timing of the transfer is unknown.
The 22-year-old has scored 16 goals and provided 13 assists in 43 apperances this season.
It follows a hugely impressive campaign where Wirtz was vital in Leverkusen’s unprecedented unbeaten Bundesliga season, which also saw them pick up the DFB-Pokal.
Leverkusen star Florian Wirtz has reportedly told Alonso he only wants to join Bayern Munich
The 22-year-old has scored 16 goals and provided 13 assists in 43 apperances this season
Manchester City had been lining up the German international as a replacement for De Bruyne
Wirtz has made 29 appearances for Germany, scoring six times, and has established himself as one of Europe’s hottest prospects.
Last month, Leverkusen’s CEO Fernando Carro told Radio Marca Wirtz would command a fee of ‘at least €150million’, although he later said this was a mistake.
In February, Bayern Munich chief Karl-Heinz Rummenigge announced they would target Wirtz this summer.
Manchester City, who have been long-term admirers, previously appeared to be in pole position.
Rummenigge, a supervisory board member at Bayern, declared that the Bundesliga giants want to poach ‘the best player in Germany’ from their rivals.
In an interview with AZ, Rummenigge said he makes ‘no secret of the fact that it must clearly be our goal to sign Wirtz.’
He added: ‘Everyone at FC Bayern agrees that he is exactly the player we want to sign. Not to weaken Leverkusen, but to strengthen us.’
Bayern’s honorary president Uli Hoeness has also spoken about Wirtz’s qualities in a separate interview with AZ, but admitted there could be financial obstacles given that the attacking midfielder still has over two years left on his Leverkusen contract.
Xabi Alonso has himself been linked with a move to Real Madrid to replace Carlo Ancelotti
Wirtz would link up with Harry Kane, who won his first ever trophy on Sunday, in Munich
Meanwhile, Xabi Alonso has also been heavily linked with a move away from the BayArena amid uncertainty over who will replace Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid.
Leverkusen previously hinted that Alonso would be allowed to leave if an approach was made.
Carro indicated that Alonso would be permitted to depart if he was contacted by a club that he played for, such as Real Madrid.
As reported by Fabrizio Romano, Carro said: ‘We have a gentleman’s agreement with Xabi Alonso for his exit’.
‘If a team in which Xabi Alonso has played comes, we would sit down to talk and we would not prevent him’.
Leverkusen sit in second place in the Bundesliga, 10 points behind Bayern Munich who wrapped up the title on Saturday to give Harry Kane his first ever trophy.
They were also dumped out of the Champions League in the round of 16 after a 5-0 aggregate loss to their German rivals.
