Roberto Firmino’s departure another sign that Jurgen Klopp’s first great Liverpool era is over

Roberto Firmino will leave Liverpool at the end of the season having informed manager the club he will not sign a new contract.

Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp wanted the 31-year-old to extend his terms prior to his deal running out this summer, but now accepts that will not be happening. Firmino will depart on a free transfer as it became obvious a longer-term and more lucrative contract will be on offer elsewhere.

The Brazilian joined Liverpool for £29 million from Hoffenheim in 2015, originally signed by Klopp’s predecessor Brendan Rodgers. After a difficult start at Anfield, Klopp’s appointment the following October transformed his career as he became the archetypal ‘false nine’.

He quickly became a Kop favourite, his work on and off the ball seen as unselfishly facilitating the more prolific Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané. For three seasons, the trio were widely recognised as one of the most dynamic forward lines in Europe.

It will be a wrench for Klopp to see Firmino leave. He was on record several times this season stating his desire for the forward to stay, but negotiations were at an impasse.

Firmino would have had to accept a short-term deal on less money, and he is also adjusting to being more of a back-up. When everyone is fit, Firmino is now effectively the fifth choice. Given he has suffered more injuries recently, Liverpool recognised other clubs were prepared to offer more attractive terms.

Liverpool have planned for his exit by securing Cody Gakpo in January, the Dutchman seen as a long-term solution in the No9 role Firmino made his own. Darwin Núñez can also play as a central striker, although recently he has featured more on the left.

Firmino was 'high-pressing machine' epitomising Klopp's transformative powers

And then there was one.

By the start of next season, Mohamed Salah will be the last legend standing of Liverpool’s most devastating attacking trio since John Barnes, Peter Beardsley and John Aldridge formed an Anfield trident.

The red carpet will be rightly rolled out for Roberto Firmino when he bids farewell. Few Liverpool players of modern times are more deserving of the laps of appreciation he can enjoy between now and May.

There are many symbols of the Jürgen Klopp era, but none sum up the manager’s transformative powers better than the selfless Brazilian.

Like the club, Firmino needed restoration when Klopp walked into Anfield in 2015. He had recently joined from Hoffenheim, but came under the category of a ‘committee’ signing in the final days of Brendan Rodgers when consensus around recruitment was an aspiration more than compulsion.

Rodgers initially used Firmino as a wide midfielder, signing Christian Benteke in the same transfer window. When Benteke joined, there were those at the club who openly suggested he was an unnecessary addition ‘because we’ve already just signed a potentially world class No9’.

When Klopp was interviewed by Liverpool’s owners in New York shortly before shaking hands on his deal to replace Rodgers, the story goes that his assessment of the squad included congratulations to the recruiters who identified Firmino’s talent. Klopp knew of Firmino in the Bundesliga and saw a diamond he could polish. And like those who scouted him, Klopp also recognised a modern, multi-faceted centre-forward who would link attack and midfield. Among his many other qualities, FSG realised they had a coach whose views chimed with those of their scouts and data analysts.

“When I saw that Liverpool had signed him I thought, ‘How could Liverpool do this?’” Klopp would recall.

“They were not in their 100 per cent best moment and other clubs would have spent more on him, so I thought, immediately, ‘What a good transfer for them.’”

October 31, 2015 may not register to many as a significant date in Liverpool history, but it was the first time Klopp used Firmino in his definitive role as 'high pressing machine'. Check the cuttings from the reports of Liverpool’s 3-1 win away at Chelsea that afternoon and it is informative to read how prevalent the view that Klopp had picked a team without a centre-forward, Benteke on the bench in the first sign he would be surplus to requirement. How swiftly perceptions of Firmino changed.

Sadio Mané joined the following summer, and then Salah when, for a brief time, Liverpool’s ‘fab four’ of attackers including Phillipe Coutinho hogged the headlines.

“The eighth wonder of the world,” Jose Mourinho described them. Mourinho thought he was being sarcastic. Klopp considered it only a mild exaggeration.

While Coutinho and then Mané and Salah assumed superstar status, Klopp insisted Firmino be recognised whenever he was invited to praise the others’ contribution.

Firmino has never been a prolific goalscorer despite more than100 for the club, but if he was not directly assisting, he was dragging centre-halves to positions of maximum discomfort, or stealing possession from dawdling midfielders and full-backs.

Coutinho has never been the same player without Firmino’s interconnecting passing and movement, Barcelona identifying the wrong Brazilian as the man who made Klopp’s strikeforce purr.

Liverpool’s attacking trio effectively became a quintet when the flying full-backs Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson became additional beneficiaries of Firmino’s ability to knit the team, his winning goal in the World Club Cup final of 2019 one of the most notable over the 12 months when Liverpool were domestic, European and global champions.

For the last two years Firmino’s influence has waned, injuries and the burden of being an ever-present for five relentless seasons undoubtedly taking a toll.

When talks over a new deal began 12 months ago, the suspicion was that Liverpool’s moneyball model would be an insurmountable hurdle to keeping Firmino. If money was limitless, Klopp’s wish for him to stay on similar terms might have been viable. There was no prospect of FSG renewing a 31-year-old back-up striker’s contract without significant compromises, especially as they have already evolved the strikeforce.

By last season’s climax, Klopp favoured Mané as his nine, Luis Díaz forcing his way into the starting line-up. Diogo Jota had already threatened Firmino’s starting status a year earlier. Since then, Darwin  Núñez and Cody Gakpo have joined.

Gakpo is most likely to assume the Firmino role long-term. He could do worse than spend every spare moment studying his predecessors performances between 2015-20.

Looking ahead, there is some debate as to whether Liverpool will undergo a major overhaul or significant tweaks in order to revive their fortunes.

Study carefully and the fundamental changes are already upon Liverpool. If Klopp ever wins a second Premier League title, the introduction of a reconstructed forward line has preceded the much needed and anticipated midfield reboot.

If it was not already obvious Liverpool are transitioning from one Klopp era to the next, Firmino’s departure underlines it.