Gary Neville says Liverpool a ‘world class’ player who is so much underrated by most people
Gary Neville claims that despite being a ‘world-class’ player, Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino is still underappreciated by many people.
Neville was appearing on The Gary Neville Podcast following Liverpool’s 4-0 thrashing of Manchester United the night before.
Firmino was unable to play due to a knock he sustained in training. But that didn’t stop Neville from praising the Brazilian’s impact to Liverpool’s offense.
“Now Liverpool have got five strikers, if we call them strikers – wide forwards, strikers, whatever you want to call them – who are genuinely world class. All five of them. They are, honestly,” said Neville.
“Firmino has been one of my favourites for the last five or six years. I know he’s the one who is understated and underrated at times, but for me he has contributed unbelievable amounts to the performance levels of this club.”
Everything the former Manchester United right-back says here is accurate. Bobby is a world-class player who has been woefully underappreciated as a critical component in Jurgen Klopp’s winning machine.
From Firmino’s perspective, the 2021/22 season has primarily been a season of failures.
For the first time in his Liverpool career, the 30-year-old has fallen out of Klopp’s first-choice eleven and has struggled with injuries.
Over the course of a season, the number 9 normally starts 40 or more games for the Reds. He hasn’t even accomplished half of it this time.
But that doesn’t mean he isn’t still useful to Klopp. When called upon, Brazil’s international has been more productive than ever.
This season, he has 11 goals in 31 games. That’s two more than he scored in 48 games in 2020/21 and one less than he scored in 52 games the previous year.
From that perspective, it’s aggravating that he’s been picking up niggly knocks like the one that kept him out last night.
Bobby is fighting for his future at Liverpool, as his contract expires in 2023. Some fans believe he has already demonstrated enough this season to deserve a contract extension.
Others may regard his injury problems as a red flag. Firmino has played a lot of football in recent years, and the layoffs could be a result of it.
Firmino has played the most minutes under Klopp since his arrival at Liverpool in 2015. Maybe his body is finally giving out after years of high-intensity demands from playing for the manager.
Regardless of what remains of Bobby’s Liverpool career, he has been and continues to be a world-class operator.
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Gary Neville says Liverpool a ‘world class’ player who is so much underrated by most people
