Barnes: Why Bobby is brilliant

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Roberto Firmino is without doubt one of our favourite Liverpool players.

The Brazilian is somewhat of an enigma to those outside the club, who don’t understand his position or his average goal-return – but everyone who watches him on a weekly basis recognised his genius.

Jurgen Klopp is one of those, proved by the fact he’s made Firmino our no.1 centre-forward option ahead of Daniel Sturridge and Divock Origi – with no plans to buy an upgrade this summer either.

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Former legendary winger John Barnes similarly appreciates the 25-year-old, suggesting that at times he’s Liverpool’s ‘best player’.

“He has been fantastic,” Digger told the club’s official website. “He has got fantastic ability. When you look at him, when you look at the way he plays, moves and controls the ball, his awareness, he doesn’t look quick but he’s quick and he moves the ball around.”

“In the big games, the hard games and the tough games [Firmino] just got better and better and better,” Barnes added. “It was ‘Is he going to be able to maintain it?’ I think he was probably one of our most consistent players in the last half of last season.”

“I’m so pleased for him, because you know the ability he has. Because of his style, there are times when games are going well and he’s fantastic, he’s the best player. When he has to work and games get tough, in the early days you could see him dropping out of them – whereas now, he has been fantastic.”

This coming season is going to be a huge one for Firmino. In 2016/17, he had to move positions because of Coutinho’s injury and also played through an injury in the latter months in order to help us qualify for the Champions League.

But now Mo Salah has arrived and he’s returned to full health, he’ll hopefully be able to begin the campaign centrally, with his new Egyptian team-mate and Sadio Mane flanking him either side.

Their speed and directness will complement Firmino’s hold-up play and creativity, with Coutinho presumably pulling strings from deep.

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