Heartbreaking: £29m star could leave Liverpool – our view

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Roberto Firmino’s participation for Liverpool against Everton this weekend is in doubt.

Jurgen Klopp revealed on Wednesday that the player is still in a lot of pain after sitting out the 4-0 victory over Manchester United through injury on Tuesday.

There’s a lot of players looking likely to leave Liverpool this summer, with the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Divock Origi and Takumi Minamino the high-profile players probably heading off.

However, there is a genuine chance that the Reds could also offload Firmino, as heartbreaking as it would be.

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It would be a tragic turn of events because Firmino has played a massive role in Liverpool’s success under Klopp.

For years, he, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah were Europe’s most formidable triumvirate in attack.

But everything moves on and the truth is that the 31-year-old isn’t as influential for Liverpool as Mane or Salah these days.

In fact, Mane has been impressing as a number nine in recent weeks, with Luis Diaz operating on the left-hand side of attack that the Senegal international made his own since joining the Anfield outfit in 2016.

And then there’s Diogo Jota who, even without Firmino’s current injury, had been ahead of him in the pecking order.

This is the Brazil international’s worst season in terms of appearances for Liverpool by a distance, having started only nine Premier League outings, whereas in his six other seasons he started at least 30 times in the top flight.

And yes, injury has played some part in that, but for the most part his appearance statistics are a visual representation of how other players are more important than him these days.

Firmino, a £29 million signing in 2015, is a massive fan favourite, affectionally referred to as ‘Bobby’, and no doubt that the Liverpool manager himself loves him to death.

But the truth is, he is declining in terms of influence and with Mane and Jota both ahead of him in the pecking order in terms of number nine, a departure is certainly plausible.