Roberto Firmino has decided to call time on his Liverpool career after eight years and there have been mixed reactions following the announcement.
It comes on the back of his limited involvement with the side this season due to injuries and Jürgen Klopp’s decision to go with a different attacking formation.
It also comes a season after Sadio Mane left the club for Bayern Munich, breaking their attacking trident which ran riot in England and Europe for five seasons.
His exit will leave only Mohamed Salah, who signed an extension at the beginning of the ongoing season to stay at Anfield until the end of the 2024/25 season.
Firmino’s exit was inevitable but it is still a significant loss to Liverpool, who are going through a difficult phase at the moment.
While the club’s management will surely be working out the kinks to strengthen the side ahead of such a high profile departure, his exit at the time shows wisdom on his part.
Having played less of a role this season, he is now leaving while the ovation is loudest so that Klopp can build with the new young forward line of Darwin Nuñez, Cody Gakpo, Fabio Carvalho and Luis Diaz. Diogo Jota, who is already in his fourth season with the club, will provide the veteran experience in attack.
The story is told of how happy Klopp was to be working with the striker upon his appointment as Liverpool manager years ago.
“I remember when Jurgen came in during his early days,” Ian Ayre, Liverpool’s former Chief Executive and the man responsible for bringing Firmino to Anfield, said one time to English tabloid Sportsmail. “He said: ‘What a player! I can’t believe you got him!’ He was very, very complimentary. He has been an incredible buy – someone out of the very top drawer.”
Klopp had watched Firmino play at the highest level for Hoffenheim when he was at Borussia Dortmund and had hopes of working with the Brazilian. In the years he spent in Germany, Neymar was the only Brazilian whose output was better, showing the kind of talent he had.
Firmino leaves as the architect of a lot of the good fortune the club enjoyed in the five season when he led the line alongside Salah and Mane. Although his scoring and assists record pale in comparison with his African counterparts in Liverpool’s attack, most of the 399 goals they scored in the 611 games they played together would not have happened without his genius input.
Those numbers also happens to be the best in Europe of any attacking pair, trio or quartet in that time.
He also leaves as the highest scoring Brazilian in the Premier League, having bagged over 70 goals in his time at Anfield.
