Roberto Firmino has decided to leave Liverpool at the end of his contract this summer - and has purposefully not spoken to other clubs, his agent has claimed.
The Brazilian forward has decided not to extend his contract with the Reds and will walk away from Anfield at the end of this season. The 31-year-old was in talks over a new deal at the club but will not extend his deal and instead pursue a new challenge.
Firmino established himself as a club icon at Anfield across his eight seasons at the club, with his attitude and selflessness in that time summed up by how he sacrificed a lucrative goal bonus in order to ensure his teammate scored a goal.
Having joined from Hoffenheim in 2015, Firmino has bagged 107 goals in 353 Liverpool appearances – forming a fearsome front three alongside Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane. The arrivals of Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo in recent times have ushered in a period of transition.
Firmino’s agent, Roger Wittmann, has confirmed that despite indicating to the Reds his wish to leave this summer, he has not spoken to other clubs or planned his future for beyond the campaign.
Wittmann told Football Insider : “Our plan for the next couple of weeks – this is the plan of Roberto – is to show the manager and Liverpool finally again the best version of him to say goodbye. This is what he wants to do.
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“He has no clue what that means for him in the near future. He told us during the whole phase when we negotiated, ‘I don’t want to talk to anybody else, there’s no need to do that’. He said it was a decision with the club.
“This was the first time in my life he’s a free agent player and he said there was no need to talk to others! So he’s not motivated by other clubs or by financial terms – far away from that.
“The club gave him the time as well, no pressure. And he never started to compare asking us to talk to different clubs. For us [it would be] easy but this was not his intention, it was just to find his own way. This is so far away from this normal business, believe me!”
The agent reiterated that Firmino did not take the decision to leave Anfield lightly, but that the option to seek a new challenge at this stage in his career was an issue he felt vindicated his impending exit.
Wittmann added: “This was not the easiest decision for the boy. It took a long time to make his decision along with the family and the decision was with love.
“Roberto is a peaceful man and said, ‘I’ve had my time but it’s time to go. Liverpool was the biggest, greatest, most successful time of my life together with the manager, together with my colleagues, together with all of them’. It was an unbelievable journey.
“He said the feeling with Liverpool, this is unbeatable. This club, the people, all of them. I saw so many rumours about the boy making a decision, even the club, but everything was with peace.
“He is the best Brazilian scorer ever in the Premier League, he’s not a normal one, a top human. He was really, really sad as well, when he told us this would be his new challenge, it was unbelievably emotional.”
