Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that Roberto Firmino will depart the club when his contract expires at the end of the season.
Last week, it was reported that the Brazil international will call time on his Anfield career when his current deal runs out, bringing an end to a trophy-laden eight-year spell.
Despite falling down the pecking order during an injury-hit couple of seasons, Firmino remains a fan favourite at Anfield, as well as being a highly-valued member of Klopp's squad.
Liverpool and Firmino were initially said to have been in discussions over a new contract for the 31-year-old, but the arrivals of Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez have restricted his game time when fully fit.
Nevertheless, Firmino was brought off the bench to round off the scoring in his side's emphatic 7-0 win over Manchester United on Sunday, giving an emotional celebration in front of the Kop.
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Speaking to Sky Sports News after the game, Klopp confirmed Firmino's imminent exit from Merseyside, admitting that it was not an easy decision for the forward to take.
"Everybody could read it - it's a normal situation when a contract is at one point and the player decides that [to leave]," the Liverpool boss said.
"It wasn't an easy decision for him. The reception he got today was outstanding. Of all the goals we scored that was the goal wanted the most."
As well as netting Liverpool's seventh in their historic thrashing of Man United, Firmino was also credited with the assist for Mohamed Salah's second of the contest, as the Egyptian became the Reds' highest Premier League goalscorer of all time.
Firmino now boasts 108 goals and 79 assists in 354 appearances for Liverpool since joining in 2015, including a respectable 10 goals and five assists from 27 games in the 2022-23 campaign.
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Despite his recent fitness concerns, Firmino is unlikely to be short of offers when he becomes a free agent in the summer, and a move to Saudi Arabia has been strongly mooted.
Atletico Madrid are also said to be eyeing a move for the South American if Joao Felix joins Chelsea permanently, while as many as three Serie A clubs are also ready to present offers.
However, Firmino's agent Roger Wittmann recently told Football Insider that the attacker is not thinking about his post-Liverpool future just yet, saying: "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."
Liverpool's romping of Man United lifted the Reds into fifth in the Premier League table and three points behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, who have played a game more.
Ben Knapton
