Great news!
Liverpool are on the verge of offering a big contract extension to Roberto Firmino, whose current deal expires in 2020.
The Brazilian will likely get improved terms and a few more years on his current one.
The Echo claim that the forward and Ben Woodburn are ‘next in line’ to put pen to paper, after Coutinho, Adam Lallana and Dejan Lovren signed new contracts last season.
Annoyingly, there’s no further word on Emre Can, whose deal expires next summer and will be free to approach by foreign clubs from January onwards regarding a Bosman deal.
Securing Firmino’s future is key though. By extending Coutinho’s deal, it meant we were in a position of power this summer just gone and will be if any top clubs ever come for Bobby, providing we don’t include a release-clause.
The 26-year-old is Jurgen Klopp’s first-choice central forward when everyone’s fit, but needs to add more goals to his game.
Firmino has three this season, but the likes of Harry Kane, Romelu Lukaku et al, have more than treble that, proving he needs to become more clinical.
If the flamboyant South American converted the chances presented to him at a better rate, we’d be talking about one of the best players in the country; due to his superb, selfless work on and off the ball before the final moment.