One of the numerous players who’s departing Liverpool this summer already appears to be attracting some big-name attention regarding his possible next move.
Bobby Firmino signed off his eight-year spell with the Reds by scoring in Sunday’s season-ending 4-4 draw at Southampton, his 111th goal for the club (Transfermarkt).
Fabrizio Romano has now shared what he knows regarding the potential next destination for the 31-year-old, with some in-house talks already believed to have taken place.
The Italian said in his exclusive Substack column for CaughtOffside: “One of the names on Real Madrid’s summer striker list is Roberto Firmino. The club have discussed him along with four of five other possible targets.”
READ MORE: Romano: ‘Permanent deal bid on Liverpool table’ for Klopp’s ‘really outstanding’ star
When a club of Real Madrid’s stature – 14-time champions of Europe (five of those in the last decade) – are lining up a possible summer move for Firmino, that illustrates just how highly he continues to be rated in the global football landscape.
He and 35-year-old Karim Benzema could leave Carlo Ancelotti with two hugely experienced centre-forwards who keep producing the goods despite their advancing years in football terms – Bobby’s final season at Liverpool saw him net 13 goals, while the Frenchman struck a whopping 30 for Los Blancos (Transfermarkt).
Of course, with the LaLiga giants having several other targets in mind, according to Romano’s update, it’s by no means guaranteed that the Brazilian will swap Anfield for the Bernabeu over the coming weeks.
However, having already been previously linked with Barcelona (The Mirror), Galatasaray (Sportcell), Inter Milan (Football Italia) and MLS clubs (Tom Bogert, via The Mirror) since announcing his intentions to leave Merseyside a couple of months ago, it seems clear the 31-year-old is a player in great demand.
It’s a shame that Liverpool won’t have Firmino for a little while longer, seeing as he’s still thriving at the highest level, but it’s no surprise to us whatsoever that our departing number nine will likely have his pick of options as to where he goes next.