Atletico Madrid face competition from MLS clubs to sign Roberto Firmino

Reports suggest that if

manages to sell Joao Felix in the summer, they will try to sign Firmino, but they have to beat other teams to secure his signing.

Liverpool wanted to extend

contract, but the arrival of Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez in recent months convinced the Brazilian forward to leave

for more playing time.

MLS clubs, Galatasaray, and Al-Nassr all reportedly are interested in signing Firmino, but he has not chosen his next team yet.

Jurgen Klopp admitted on Friday that he is surprised by Firmino's decision to leave Liverpool but insisted he respects the Brazilian's wishes.

Klopp told reporters:

"Yes, he told me. Surprised? Yes, a little bit but I was not hit by surprise, actually it’s a normal thing to do.

“It could go two ways and that was one. And I respect that a lot. It’s completely normal in this kind of long relationship that we have and Bobby has with the club and with most of the players and stuff like this, and with the fans of course.

“There’s no time for a goodbye or whatever in this moment, there’s enough time for that later in the season. Whenever he will come back, everybody knows that the song will still be for a long, long time in everybody’s ears I’m pretty sure!

“No problem. I think he’s one of these players that even when he would come with an opposition team, people would be really happy to see him.”

The 31-year-old Firmino joined Liverpool from Hoffenheim in 2015. He has managed to score 108 goals in 354 games for the Reds. Firmino won six major trophies with Liverpool, including the Premier League in 2020 and the Champions League in 2019.

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