Jurgen Klopp, manager of Liverpool, has acknowledged that he will miss Roberto Firmino "as a human" as much as a footballer.
Firmino has said he will quit his eight-year tenure at Anfield when his contract with the Reds expires later this month.
The Brazilian departs after netting a late equalizer in his final home match, a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa, and then netting Liverpool's second in their 4-4 season-ending draw against Southampton.
In an excerpt from Bobby, a farewell documentary that Liverpool plans to use to say goodbye to Firmino, manager Jurgen Klopp expresses how much he will miss the 31-year-old.
"He is very essential to everything that occurred here during my time. Even if he didn't start as frequently recently, I believe he is still the player that started the majority of games, according to Klopp.
"I just couldn't picture how our game would be without him for a very, very long period. We therefore had to come up with means to get by without him, and we did so by using these spells: For instance, Sadio [Mane] performed incredibly well last year.
But I will miss him as a person, a human, and a boy. As players, we will all miss him, but in any case, I believe that was the proper way to say goodbye: with tears in our eyes, in the knowledge that we will undoubtedly miss one another since it will be the same the other way around.
"But we are professional football players, and we occasionally have to split ways; it's a totally normal thing. As a result, we will always be friends, and I will be grateful to him for everything he did for my family and myself. He will also be remembered as one of Liverpool's greatest players.
What more could a football player want for in life?
Firmino is free to speak with other teams about his future, and rumours out of Spain indicate that Real Madrid is interested in the forward.
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