With Sky Sports breaking the story that Liverpool have held talks with South American trio Roberto Firmino, Carlos Bacca and Salomon Rondon, we at Caught Offside have produced an in-depth scouting report on the first of the three.
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Background:
Firmino moved to Europe in 2011 and somewhat flew under the radar as he never received the media hype that the likes of Neymar, Diego, Adriano and Robinho were given as youngsters.
He had one full season in Brazil with local club Figueirense before officially joining Bundesliga outfit Hoffenheim in January 2011. Since his arrival he has become a key player for the club and has made over 150 appearances in four and a half years.
His form during the 2013/14 season, where he scored 22 goals, was not enough to earn him a call-up to the Brazil national team for the 2014 World Cup, however, failure to win the tournament on home soil has resulted in a squad shake-up and Firmino has benefitted from that.
New manager Dunga handed Firmino his debut last December and he has already found the back of the net four times, including one against Chile in a international friendly and more recently in the Copa America tournament against Venezuela.