Mohamed Salah explains why Roberto Firmino is one of Liverpool's best ever players
Mohamed Salah has declared that departing teammate Roberto Firmino will be remembered as one of the 'best players to ever play for Liverpool'.
Firmino's exit from Anfield after eight seasons with the club was announced in March. The 31-year-old was coming towards the end of his contract and no longer able to hold down a regular starting place, despite still making substantial contributions off the bench.
The player himself later said: "The cycle here is ended and I understand it is time to go."
In total, Firmino scored 111 times for Liverpool in 362 appearances. He also won six trophies during the club's most concentrated period of success since the glory days of the 1980s - including the Champions League and a first domestic league title in 30 years.
A huge part of Liverpool's success in the last few years was Firmino's on-field relationship with Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, a trio that was at times the best attacking unit in the world.
Firmino in particular was often the glue that held things together and he was revered by his colleagues for his attitude and willingness to do the hard graft that helped them perform.
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"[It's] his ability to do everything in the game and also to sacrifice himself for the team," Salah explained in Bobby, a mini-series put together by the club.
"He just plays for the team. He doesn't really care about scoring that much, he just wants to enjoy his game and just play football and wants the team to win.
"I think he's one of the ones [who has] been loved the most because everybody likes him. He's really calm, always smiling. And as I said before, when you see someone sacrifice himself for the team, you see everybody loves him here."
"He is going be one of the best players to ever play for Liverpool. He won the Premier League and Champions League and all the cups. He won everything with the club and he's one of the best ever to play for Liverpool."
Firmino will officially become a free agent at the end of the month. As yet, there is no indication as to where he will be playing his football next season, although there have been speculative links with Serie A giants AC Milan, Juventus and Inter, as well as Real Madrid.
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