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.
Position and characteristics:
The 23-year-old is an attacking midfielder by trade but is not a typical No.10, as he prefers to get on the ball and make things happen, rather than just receive the ball and pick out his teammates with a pass.
For Hoffenheim, he is usually deployed in the No.10 role just behind the main striker, where he is given license to roam and he does exactly that as he is slowly becoming an expert in timing his late runs into the box.
For the national team at the Copa America he has been interestingly used as a centre-forward and that is a position that Liverpool have struggled to fill following the sale of Luis Suarez to Barcelona last summer and the injury problems to Daniel Sturridge.
Statistics:
This is one aspect of the game that seems to split football fans, and while statistics can often be misleading, they are difficult to ignore at times. This is certainly the case in regards to Firmino.
In his last two seasons for Hoffenheim, he scored 32 goals in all competitions and, more impressively. he has registered 21 assists in the Bundesliga.
Who Scored, who publish ratings for players based on their contributions throughout the campaign, ranked Firmino as one of the top ten players in Europe last season.
Being named along the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is testament to his improvement over the last 12 months.
Strengths:
The three main skills Brazilians require in their No. 10s are dribbling, shooting and passing. Firmino possesses all of these and more as he also has the awareness to know when and where to be at all times.
Like many Brazilians that have played the game, Firmino likes picking the ball up from deep and driving at the opposition’s defence. More often than not, he picks the right choice in the final third.
Similar to the likes of Suarez, Alexis Sanchez and Sergio Aguero, Firmino has a great appetite for the game and just like the South American trio, his work-rate is something that would endear him to the Kop supporters.
His biggest strength is his finishing as he is able to remain ice-cold when one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
Weaknesses:
Firmino is not yet the finished article, which is understandable given that he is still only 23-years-old, and may not be entering his prime for several more years to come.
Something that will have to be addressed if he was to join the Reds is his physicality as the Premier League has proven many times that it’s a extremely tough competition to get to grips with.
Angel Maria proved last season that talent alone won’t be enough to thrive in England and while it’s not necessarily a weakness it could prevent him from settling down.
How he would fit in at Liverpool:
The potential to link-up with his international team-mate in Philippe Coutinho looks to be a mouth-watering prospect and they could replicate their partnership with Brazil at club level.
If manager Brendan Rodgers switches back to a 4-3-3 formation, then Firmino could be deployed as one of the three midfielders or out wide with license to drift in field.
But if Rodgers decides to stick with a 3-4-2-1 formation that almost got the club into the Champions League last season, then the prospect of the two Brazilians just behind a centre-forward could make the Reds dangerous going forward once again.