By David Lynch, Merseyside Correspondent

4th Mar, 2023 | 12:13pm

Roberto Firmino reveals 'it's time for me to go' as he breaks silence on Liverpool exit and his next club plans

Roberto Firmino refused to hold talks with other clubs before deciding he will Liverpool leave on a free transfer this summer, the player’s agent has told Football Insider.

It emerged on Friday afternoon that the Brazilian has elected to reject the offer of a new contract in order to call time on his eight-year stint at Anfield and take on a new challenge.

He communicated that decision to his representative, Roger Wittmann, following the Reds’ win over Wolves on Wednesday evening before then informing Jurgen Klopp on Friday.

And Wittmann has now told Football Insider that Firmino’s call was made without any knowledge of what might be on offer to him from other clubs, with a decision over his future now set to be made in the coming months.

He said: “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.

“The club gave him the time as well, no pressure. And he never started to compare asking us to talk to different clubs. For us [it would be] easy but this was not his intention, it was just to find his own way. This is so far away from this normal business, believe me!”

Klopp had made no secret of his desire to retain a player who has made more appearances under him than other in his managerial career.

And Wittmann says Firmino, too, was ‘unbelievably emotional’ about deciding to move on from the manager, his teammates, and Liverpool as a whole.

He added: “This was not the easiest decision for the boy. It took a long time to make his decision along with the family and the decision was with love.

“Roberto is a peaceful man and said, ‘I’ve had my time but it’s time to go. Liverpool was the biggest, greatest, most successful time of my life together with the manager, together with my colleagues, together with all of them’. It was an unbelievable journey.

“He said the feeling with Liverpool, this is unbeatable. This club, the people, all of them. I saw so many rumours about the boy making a decision, even the club, but everything was with peace.

“He is the best Brazilian scorer ever in the Premier League, he’s not a normal one, a top human. He was really, really sad as well, when he told us this would be his new challenge, it was unbelievably emotional.”

According to Wittmann, Firmino has also been moved by the outpouring of love from Liverpool fans since his decision emerged, though he has promised a reunion further down the line.

He continued: “It is a storm when a player makes a decision like that, but everybody is in love with this boy.

“[People in social media] said they could understand and [liked] how he did this in a serious way, not one single rumour. During this phase, no rumours, nothing. The boy said, ‘This is not the way I want to go, the club deserves really my attention, I must be in the best shape after injury and come back’.

“He will be back in the legends team of Liverpool!”

In other news, Sources: Liverpool set for ‘big’ pre-season change after devastating injury blows.