News that Roberto Firmino will be leaving Liverpool at the end of the 2022/23 Premier League campaign is likely to be greeted with a degree of sadness on Merseyside.
The Brazilian has been an integral part of the Reds revolution under Jurgen Klopp, but in football as in life, all good things must come to an end.
With Sadio Mane long since departed, Firmino’s decision to leave the Anfield outfit will mean that only Mo Salah remains from Liverpool’s incredible attacking triumvirate. A trio that scored or assisted in 399 of the Reds 611 goals between 2017 and 2022, per the Daily Mail.
Clearly in this campaign, however, something has gone wrong under Klopp, and Firmino is one player who has seen his time on the pitch reduced.
At 31 years of age, the player is coming towards the twilight of his career and still needs to be playing regularly.
It’s perhaps with that in mind that he’s come to the decision to leave after learning what plans Klopp had for him next season.
According to 90min, it was made clear during negotiations with Firmino that he again wouldn’t get as much game time as he expected.
Though he could still, theoretically, have signed a new deal, a player with as much talent as he has was never going to accept playing third or fourth fiddle.
In the end, it would seem to have been an easy decision to make.