The last day of August 2019 and Liverpool have just beaten Burnley 3-0 at Turf Moor with a display that is as dominant as it is devastating. But all is not well in the visitors’ ranks given Sadio Mané’s angry reaction to being substituted late on after becoming increasingly frustrated with Mohamed Salah’s failure to pass to him. All eyes are consequently on the pair as they head back to the dressing room, yet ultimately it is the other member of Liverpool’s frontline who catches the attention as he walks between them. Looking directly at camera, Roberto Firmino stops, blows out his cheeks, smirks, then smirks again.
It was a wonderful moment and one many Liverpool supporters are no doubt reflecting on as they digest the news that Firmino has decided to leave the club in the summer. Because for them he has not just been a brilliantly influential part of the Jürgen Klopp era but, more than any other player, encapsulated the sheer joy of it, too. The smirks, the smiles, the no-look goals and Kung fu-kick celebrations; “Bobby” delighted Kopites in so many ways, over and over again.
There is, then, a very real sadness within the fanbase regarding Firmino’s impending departure, even if it is understandable given he is out of contract at the end of the season and probably recognises that after eight years on Merseyside and with the club in a state of significant and required renewal, it is the right time to move on. Where the 31-year-old Brazilian goes next is unclear but what’s sure is that he will travel to his next destination with a bag full of memories to go alongside all those winners’ medals.
A glorious player for a glorious period in Liverpool’s history and, as such, it’s somewhat bewildering to remember just how badly it started for Firmino after his arrival from Hoffenheim for £29m in June 2015. He looked lost in a team that was losing its way under Brendan Rodgers and things did not improve for him even after the Northern Irishman was sacked in October 2015 and replaced by Klopp. The new manager twice started Firmino as a No 10 and once, in a win at Stamford Bridge, as a lone forward, and while he did OK his contributions were neither sparkling or potent. There were no goals and little to write home about.
But then came Liverpool’s trip to Manchester City in late November 2015. Firmino was again deployed centrally but this time as a false nine in a three-man frontline, given the licence to move into dangerous positions inside the area as well as drift across and away from the attacking line, all the while supported by, and supporting, the forwards either side of him. He excelled in a 4-1 win for Klopp’s side, scoring one goal, providing assists for two others and generally tormenting the hosts up until his substitution on 77 minutes.
Firmino made a new role in a new-look Liverpool side his own, using his technical gifts, tireless work rate, selfless attitude and intelligence, on and off the ball, to bring the best out of himself as well as others. The impact was consistently impressive and especially so after Mané and Salah arrived in successive summers. Quite simply the trio were made for each other and over the course of five years established themselves as one of the most aggressive, thrilling and decisive attacking units European football has ever seen.
And while Firmino may have been the least eye-catching member of the trio he was undeniably central, literally as well as figuratively, to the devastation they, and the team as a whole, caused. As Andrew Robertson put it after that win over Burnley in August 2019: “People will say there are better strikers, but what he does is so important to our team. He’s our first line of defence, he nicks the ball in midfield and then he goes up the park and scores goals and makes assists. We’d be lost without him. He’s world class.”
As the goals rained in and the trophies piled up, there was always the question of which of the front three would leave first. It turned out to be Mané and as this season has gone on the sense has only grown that Liverpool are far less of a force without the Senegalese. Firmino’s loss is unlikely to be as notable given his status as an increasingly peripheral member of the squad, in part due to a downturn in his productivity and general effectiveness that essentially started after Liverpool won the Premier League title in 2020.
That, allied to the arrival of Diogo Jota, Luis Díaz, Darwin Núñez and Cody Gakpo during subsequent transfer windows, has pretty much relegated Firmino to being Liverpool’s sixth-choice frontline option. Yet as he demonstrated with his excellent form prior to the calf injury he sustained in November, scoring nine goals and providing four assists in 25 appearances, he still has much to contribute, something Klopp recognised and wanted to reward with a new contract. The manager as much as the fans will be gutted by the player’s wish to leave in a few months time.
“He made the people happy” it says on the statue of Bill Shankly that stands outside the Kop. In his own unique way, Firmino has done the same. They’ll miss his talents at Anfield but, more than anything, they’ll miss his character, the way he made football feel not only exciting but fun, something to be taken very seriously and not seriously at all. A smile for all occasions, and a smirk for even the most awkward of them. He’ll soon be gone but it’s fair to say Liverpool will never forget Bobby.
