Liverpool had a player Gary Neville said 'any manager in the world' would want but Jurgen Klopp let him go for free
03/29/2025 04:00 PM
The Jurgen Klopp era at Anfield saw many top players come and go.
The summer of 2023 saw some legendary figures such as Fabinho and Jordan Henderson leave Liverpool and were replaced by stars who are key to Arne Slot at present, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, to name two.
Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Alisson are players who are synonymous with the German coach’s legendary reign at Anfield as they won everything together at the Merseyside club.
However, there is one legendary figure who everyone at the Merseyside club loved, and he was so good that it even spread to Man United legend Gary Neville, who was a big fan of the Liverpool star.
Gary Neville was a big fan of Liverpool legend Roberto Firmino
During his time at Liverpool, Firmino would often receive praise from Neville as it was clear that the Sky Sports pundit was a fan of the Brazilian star.
The Man United legend expressed just how much he admired the forward after Liverpool defeated Tottenham 1-0 back in January 2020, with Firmino scoring the only goal of the contest.
Neville stated post-match that Firmino was a player ‘any manager in the world would have’ as the pundit heaped praise on the former Brazil international.
“The centre-forward, Firmino, for me, I think any manager in the world would have him as their centre-forward in their team,” Neville said on Sky Sports.
“I think he’s absolutely incredible, Firmino. He’s just selfless, brilliant, scores goals, and sets things up. They can link off him, he makes all the right runs, just an outstanding player.”
To this day, Liverpool are still searching for a player like Firmino as Slot is in the market for a new striker ahead of the 2025/26 campaign. The Brazilian was loved by all Liverpool fans and it will be hard to find anyone like him again.
That was mutual, evident in the choice Firmino made on how he was going to bring his Liverpool career to a close when leaving as a free agent during the summer of 2023.
Where does Roberto Firmino rank among the best players from the Jurgen Klopp era
When it comes to the best players of the Klopp era at Liverpool, it is fair to say that Salah sits at the top of the list, with Van Dijk a close second. Not many Reds fans would argue with that; however, the rest may cause some debate.
Given the number of times he was called upon to produce a big moment, Alisson would fall into the third spot leaving the rest of the top five to be contested between Firmino, Sadio Mane, and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The majority of Liverpool fans would slot Firmino into fourth position given his overall importance to Klopp’s team, followed by Mane and Alexander-Arnold.
The Brazilian will always be a welcomed face at Anfield as fans of the Reds will never forget the moments of genius he produced in a Liverpool shirt.
