Liverpool have confirmed that Bobby Firmino, Naby Keita, James Milner and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will all leave the Reds when their contracts expire this summer.
The announcement was made on the club’s official website and Twitter channel at 5pm, with the latter stating that ‘special acknowledgements will be paid to the quartet at Anfield, with further tributes to follow at the end of the season’.
LFC’s official statement confirming the quartet’s departures concluded: ‘All four players will depart with our gratitude and appreciation for the contribution they have made.’
There was no further detail given as to what the ‘special acknowledgements’ at Saturday’s home game against Aston Villa will be, although some specifics may be revealed closer to the time.
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With all four of those players spending between five and eight years at Liverpool, there’s a distinct ‘end of an era’ feel to their simultaneous departures from the club.
Firmino and Milner came in 2015 and pre-date Jurgen Klopp’s arrival at Anfield, with the duo making almost 700 appearances combined for the Reds (360 and 330 respectively) and scoring a cumulative 135 goals (Transfermarkt). Their exits leave Joe Gomez as the only Brendan Rodgers signing remaining in L4.
Ox arrived in 2017 and accrued 18 goals in 146 appearances, while Keita joined a year later and netted 11 times in 129 games for the club (Transfermarkt).
The figures for those two players would have been much higher had both not been afflicted by numerous injuries, and while they may wish to have featured more regularly, they still made memorable contributions during their time on Merseyside.
The quartet have played 965 times between them for Liverpool, with Klopp losing a vast amount of experience from his squad, and all four played a part in the Premier League and Champions League triumphs under the German.
There had seemed an inevitability for some time that they’d be leaving, but now that it’s been confirmed by the club officially, all four can expect a warm send-off when they feature for the final time with the Reds at Anfield this coming weekend.
You can see the tweet confirming the quartet’s departures from Liverpool below, via @LFC on Twitter:
We can confirm Roberto Firmino, Naby Keita, James Milner and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will leave the club upon the expiry of their contracts this summer.
Special acknowledgements will be paid to the quartet at Anfield, with further tributes to follow at the end of the season.
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) May 17, 2023