Although Brazilian striker Roberto Firmino has become the latest high-profile player to move to Saudi Arabia, signing with Al Ahli after his contract with Premier League giants Liverpool expired.
As well, the club revealed his arrival at Al Ahli in a video posted on social media on Tuesday, and it comes less than a week after the team signed a deal to sign Senegalese goalkeeper Edouard Mendy from Chelsea.
“I’ve always played for the big teams; now I’m at Al Ahli,” Firmino said in a video on Al-Ahli’s Twitter account. Jeddah-based Al Ahli has already signed former Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy this off-season.
Moreover, the Brazil international said at the end of May farewell planned to Anfield, scoring his 111th goal for the club in his last game. Backed by the country’s sovereign wealth fund, the Saudi Pro League is attracting big names from Europe’s top leagues with the promise of big salaries.
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Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard took over as manager at Al Attifaq earlier this week, while Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante have also moved to the Gulf state since Cristiano Ronaldo switched to Al Nassr in January.
Furthermore, the 31-year-old, widely known as Bobby, left Liverpool after eight seasons at Anfield, during which he scored 111 goals in 362 appearances and won the Premier League, Champions League, and Club World Cup.
In 2019, with Brazil, he won the Copa América, and along with Egypt’s Senegal’s Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, in the Premier League, Firmino has become one of the best forward trios in recent years. The three helped improve the club and lead it back to the trophies after years of instability and mediocre results.
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Nonetheless, Salah is the only player of the trio to remain at Anfield, following Firmino’s departure this season and Mane’s departure to Germany’s Bayern Munich last season. Liverpool has 19 titles, with 20 titles second only to Manchester United, at the Premier League level,
Therefore, the Reds have won the UEFA Champions League 6 times, more than any English club, and are third behind Spain’s Real Madrid [13 titles] and Italy’s AC Milan [7 titles]. Al Ahli returned to the Saudi Pro League after spending the 2022-2023 campaign in the second division, but the team remains without a manager after the departure of South African Pitso Mosimane.