Former Stoke City man Bojan has claimed that a deal to take Roberto Firmino from Liverpool to Barcelona makes sense.
Liverpool’s forward doesn’t operate like a traditional no. 9. Roberto Firmino is responsible for knitting a lot of the play together. He drops deep, collects the ball and often creates space for Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah.
His goal scoring numbers tend to reflect that, although the Brazilian is certainly guilty of missing a few good chances here and there. According to Understat, Bobby should have hit the back of the net 15 times this campaign – a massive seven goal improvement on his eight strikes.
Barcelona wouldn’t necessarily be getting someone who can bang them in, although Firmino’s final tally of 15 in 2017/2018 shows that he can score goals when his head is right.
There is way more than just goals to the former Hoffenheim man’s game though, which explains why he’s such a valued member of the side despite that poor conversation rate.
Someone who just ran off the shoulder of the last defender but missed chance after chance would get dropped before they could blink, but the all round package that Firmino brings is more than worthy of a side like Barcelona.
Which is why Bojan has been speaking so highly of him.
More from Rush The Kop
- Set to return, Virgil Van Dijk facing heavy criticism back home
- Liverpool making late comebacks all the rage once again
- Wolves tilt gives Klopp opportunity to tinker with lineup following international duty
- Players to watch in the matchup with Wolves
- Predicting Liverpool’s Next Five Premier League Fixtures
The former Potter reckons that Bobby would be a way better fit for La Liga than Inter Milan star Laurito Martinez, who has been attracting the Catalan’s attention.
Bojan fears that they’ll turn him into another Antoine Griezmann: a super talented forward who is shunted out of position to make sure the current star duo of Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez don’t have their noses put out of place.
The Barca Academy graduate would much rather see the Catalans move for Firmino over Martinez.
"“If you allow me a name, I would bet more on Roberto Firmino: a link player, with a lot of presence and great mobility“I do not intend that this reflection be interpreted as a refusal to sign Martinez, but I understand that his profile must be analysed very well.”"
Liverpool aren’t in the habit of selling their star players and certainly don’t need to. Nor would there be a huge amount of appetite to leave a side who is challenging for titles every season.