{"id":99546,"date":"2025-05-14T01:36:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T01:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/99546\/"},"modified":"2025-05-14T01:36:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T01:36:14","slug":"former-liverpool-star-set-to-leave-saudi-arabia-for-emotional-homecoming-at-33-two-years-after-departing-the-reds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/99546\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Liverpool star set to leave Saudi Arabia &#8216;for emotional homecoming&#8217; at 33 two years after departing the Reds"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"mol-bullets-with-font\">\n<li class=\"\"><strong><b>The star played a big role in Liverpool&#8217;s success under Jurgen Klopp before exit<\/b><\/strong><\/li>\n<li class=\"\"><strong><b>He is now set to cut his contract with Al-Ahli short to return to his home country<\/b><\/strong><\/li>\n<li class=\"\"><strong>LISTEN NOW: <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/dailymail.lnk.to\/its-all-kicking-offDM\">It&#8217;s All Kicking Off!<\/a> Why Liverpool fans must not let Trent Alexander-Arnold row spoil their title party<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"author-section byline-plain\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/profile-1101\/lewis-browning.html\" class=\"author\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LEWIS BROWNING<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"byline-section\"> Published:  19:31 EDT, 13 May 2025   |  Updated:  19:32 EDT, 13 May 2025   <\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">A former <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/liverpool\/index.html\" id=\"mol-c2e013a0-304f-11f0-bd2c-5358e99bd466\" rel=\"noopener\">Liverpool<\/a> star is set to leave the Saudi Pro League for a reported emotional homecoming at the age of 33.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The forward was part of a wave of stars who had been playing in Europe to move to the middle east in the summer of 2023, alongside the likes of <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/neymar\/index.html\" id=\"mol-c2e9b090-304f-11f0-bd2c-5358e99bd466\" rel=\"noopener\">Neymar<\/a>, <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/karim-benzema\/index.html\" id=\"mol-c2e7dbd0-304f-11f0-bd2c-5358e99bd466\" rel=\"noopener\">Karim Benzema<\/a> and N&#8217;Golo Kante.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">He has enjoyed success with Al-Ahli while in the country, winning the AFC <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/champions_league\/index.html\" id=\"mol-c2eda830-304f-11f0-bd2c-5358e99bd466\" rel=\"noopener\">Champions League<\/a> this season as he set up both goals in the final. In total, he has netted 21 times in 65 games for the club.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The club president, Khaled Al-Ghamdi, however, has revealed that they have agreed to terminate the contract of <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/roberto-firmino\/index.html\" id=\"mol-c2eac200-304f-11f0-bd2c-5358e99bd466\" rel=\"noopener\">Roberto Firmino<\/a> early after he penned a three-year deal when joining the club two years ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JacobsBen\/status\/1922308724690985142\">Ben Jacobs of GiveMeSport<\/a> reports that Firmino is looking to secure a return to his native Brazil, where he started his career with Figueirense before moving to Hoffenheim in Germany.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">it would be an emotional return to the forward 14 years after he left the club and his homeland as he approaches the back end of his career at 33.<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-875ed023f42b081b\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/98353719-0-image-a-2_1747177797004.jpg\" height=\"422\" width=\"634\" alt=\"A former Liverpool star is set to leave Al Ahli in Saudi Arabia for an emotional homecoming\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">A former Liverpool star is set to leave Al Ahli in Saudi Arabia for an emotional homecoming\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-3a3bd24e674ea033\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/98353717-0-image-a-1_1747177789466.jpg\" height=\"410\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Roberto Firmino (centre) formed a formidable attacking trio alongside Sadio Mane (left0 and Mohamed Salah (right) at Liverpool\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Roberto Firmino (centre) formed a formidable attacking trio alongside Sadio Mane (left0 and Mohamed Salah (right) at Liverpool\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-f2f12d48d42dc59a\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/98353667-0-image-a-4_1747177803244.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\" alt=\"He won both the Champions League and Premier League while at Anfield under Jurgen Klopp\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">He won both the Champions League and Premier League while at Anfield under Jurgen Klopp<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-5bbb0c93a98a3f33\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/98353683-0-image-m-5_1747177806853.jpg\" height=\"513\" width=\"634\" alt=\"After two years - that saw him win the AFC Champions League - he has cut his deal short\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">After two years &#8211; that saw him win the AFC Champions League &#8211; he has cut his deal short<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Fluminense have been touted a possible destination for the former Anfield hero. The club are currently fifth in the Brazilian Serie A after eight games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">There were concerns over Firmino&#8217;s future when he wasn&#8217;t registered in Al-Ahli&#8217;s squad for the second half of the Saudi Pro League season, but he did play a key role in their Champions League-winning campaign.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Firmino was left in tears as he said goodbye to the Liverpool faithful back in May 2023 following the Reds&#8217; final home game of the season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Having played such a key role in Liverpool&#8217;s Champions League triumph in 2019 and Premier League win a year later, he cut an emotional figure before setting off for Saudi.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">He formed a formidable attacking trio with Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah during his time at Anfield under Jurgen Klopp, with Mane also departing for Saudi Arabia just months before.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">That left Salah as the only one left, and he still stands strong to this day, set to win the Premier League Golden Boot and having just penned a new two-year deal with the club.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Firmino has also been capped 55 times by Brazil, scoring 17 times.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>                    Share or comment on this article:<br \/>\n                        Former Liverpool star set to leave Saudi Arabia &#8216;for emotional homecoming&#8217; at 33 two years after departing the Reds<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The star played a big role in Liverpool&#8217;s success under Jurgen Klopp before exit He is now set&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99547,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[2106,19330,748,92,393,94,4884,16030,179,46207,33024,6506,93,100,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-99546","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-brazil","9":"tag-brazil-football","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-dailymail","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-karim-benzema","16":"tag-liverpool","17":"tag-neymar","18":"tag-roberto-firmino","19":"tag-saudi-arabia","20":"tag-sport","21":"tag-transfer-news","22":"tag-uk","23":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114503626582998503","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}