Roberto Firmino says Jurgen Klopp was ‘avoiding’ talking to him last year

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Liverpool legend Roberto Firmino has claimed that Jurgen Klopp was ignoring him last season.

Firmino is one of the truly defining players of the Klopp era at Liverpool so far. Having been at the club throughout the manager’s tenure, the Brazilian left in an emotional farewell during the summer.

But according to claims in his new book ‘Si Senor: My Liverpool Years,’ Bobby never actually wanted to go. In quotes collated by The Athletic this morning, the 32-year-old says that he took the decision to leave before the club took it for him.

Having admitted to feeling ‘muddled’ by ‘slow’ contract talks, Firmino even claims that Klopp was deliberately avoiding him.

“The boss was avoiding me,” he’s quoted as saying, as the manager failed to explain his lack of playing time during 2022/23.

It even seems that Firmino’s discontent started much earlier, in the 2021/22 campaign. With Bobby out injured for large parts of the season for the first time, he is said to have felt ‘disconnected’ from the club’s ambitions. A rather sad end to what was a brilliant Liverpool career.

Firmino lifts lid on Liverpool exit

Reading between the lines, it seems likely that Firmino’s conclusion that he jumped before he was pushed is correct.

The push wouldn’t have come from Klopp. The German was seemingly keen to keep a player who had come to define his own vision of how football should be played.

Nevertheless, just like it was with Gini Wijnaldum and James Milner, the decision seems to have been taken from higher up that no new contract would be given to Bobby.

In that situation, it’s hard to know what Klopp should do. He isn’t the kind of manager who’s going to rock the boat and demand that the board give in to his wants. Besides, there was a good argument that Firmino’s time at Liverpool was indeed ready to end.

So, it’s feasible that Jurgen knew what was coming for his No.9, and perhaps simply didn’t know how to relay that. In that scenario it’s easy to see why Firmino would feel like he was being avoided.

Hopefully it doesn’t take anything away from the relationship between the pair, which always seemed as healthy as can be.

But there’s no denying that this does leave a slightly sour taste in the mouth for fans. Bobby was contributing last season and clearly wanted to stay. It would have been brilliant to see him drifting in and out of this new Liverpool side, lending his experience and nous to the younger players around him.

All being well, the Al Ahli man should have ended his career at Anfield. But life sometimes just doesn’t work out that way.