Roberto Firmino refused to hold talks with other clubs before deciding his future at Liverpool, his agent, Roger Wittmann, has revealed.
It became clear on Friday morning that Firmino's decision was to not extend his eight-year stay at Anfield as he seeks a new challenge in the summer following the expiry of his contract.
A contract was on the table for the highest scoring Brazilian in Premier League history, but Firmino made the decision to end his trophy-laden time on Merseyside.
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Firmino informed Wittmann of his decision on Wednesday after the win over Wolves at Anfield before personally informing manager Jurgen Klopp of his decision on Friday.
Wittmann spoke to Football Insider about Firmino's choice: “Our plan for the next couple of weeks – this is the plan of Roberto – is to show the manager and Liverpool finally again the best version of him to say goodbye. This is what he wants to do.
“He has no clue what that means for him in the near future. He told us during the whole phase when we negotiated, ‘I don’t want to talk to anybody else, there’s no need to do that’. He said it was a decision with the club.
“This was the first time in my life he’s a free agent player and he said there was no need to talk to others! So he’s not motivated by other clubs or by financial terms – far away from that.
“The club gave him the time as well, no pressure. And he never started to compare asking us to talk to different clubs. For us [it would be] easy but this was not his intention, it was just to find his own way. This is so far away from this normal business, believe me!”
It wasn't an easy decision for Firmino to make as he 'unbelievably emotional' about choosing to leave the club he has spent the last eight years with.
Wittmann added: "This was not the easiest decision for the boy. It took a long time to make his decision along with the family and the decision was with love.
“Roberto is a peaceful man and said, ‘I’ve had my time but it’s time to go. Liverpool was the biggest, greatest, most successful time of my life together with the manager, together with my colleagues, together with all of them’. It was an unbelievable journey.
“He said the feeling with Liverpool, this is unbeatable. This club, the people, all of them. I saw so many rumours about the boy making a decision, even the club, but everything was with peace.
“He is the best Brazilian scorer ever in the Premier League, he’s not a normal one, a top human. He was really, really sad as well, when he told us this would be his new challenge, it was unbelievably emotional.”
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