The agent of Liverpool forward Roberto Firmino has confirmed the Brazilian will leave the club at the end of the season.
90min confirmed reports earlier this week that Firmino, who has not been a regular starter for the Reds this season, will not sign a new contract at Anfield and will instead depart in the summer in search of regular minutes.
Firmino has communicated his decision to the club and is leaving on positive terms, with the 31-year-old’s eight years of service well appreciated by those in charge.
Confirming Firmino’s decision, agent Roger 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.
“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!”
Wittmann also confirmed it was an ’emotional’ decision for Firmino, who also thanked supporters for their messages after his exit was confirmed.
“This was not the easiest decision for the boy,” the agent continued. 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.”