Rio Ferdinand, a former player for Manchester United, believes that Liverpool should have acquired Roberto Firmino rather than Sadio Mane prior to the start of the season. The Senegalese international signed for £32.5 million, including add-ons, when he arrived at Bayern Munich in the summer.
After the previous season, he had entered the final year of his contract at Anfield. The former Southampton winger is paid £250,000 per week at the Allianz Arena, according to the Daily Mail. In contrast, Mohamed Salah was given a new three-year contract last summer that paid him a weekly salary that set a club record of £400,000.
Why the Reds did not comply with any apparent wage demands Mane may have made has left Ferdinand perplexed. He claims that it would have been better to sell Firmino, who was also in the final year of his Liverpool contract at the start of the season.
“Why didn’t they just give him money so he could stay? I believe that the wrong one was let go. Firmino should have been let go. “I just don’t get how you let someone who was actually world-class at the time and would have preferred to stay if you gave him the contract he wanted or something similar to what Salah got.”
I simply cannot comprehend it. Every Liverpool fan must have been sitting there thinking, “Wow, how have we let this player of that caliber slip through our hands?” Mane, 30, was arguably Jurgen Klopp’s first significant signing in Merseyside. During his six seasons with the Reds, he scored 120 goals and had 48 assists in 269 games across all competitions.
Last season, he led the Premier League giants to an unprecedented quadruple with 23 goals and five assists in 53 games across all competitions. Mane also helped Senegal win their first AFCON trophy last year, despite the fact that they only took home two of the four possible awards.
Before Roberto Firmino leaves for free this summer, Liverpool is eager to extend his contract. Roger Wittman, his agent, recently told Sky Germany, via ThisIsAnfield: “We will probably know where the journey is going [later in February],” the statement reads. He went on to say that when it comes to the renewal of Firmino’s contract, the parties are on the “right track.”
Since the beginning of 2022, Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, and Cody Gakpo have been added to the team coached by Jurgen Klopp. The Reds appear to want to keep 31-year-old Firmino beyond this season, despite the influx of talented attackers.
In 21 games across competitions this season, he has scored nine goals and contributed four assists. However, in 15 of those appearances, he has not scored or assisted.