Jurgen Klopp reveals Firmino replacement as Barcelona move draws closer

Roberto Firmino, who turns 32 in October, has been at Liverpool since 2015 but is set to depart at the end of the current campaign with his contract expiring in June.

Firmino has been strongly linked with a move to LaLiga giants Barcelona and after scoring an impressive 109 goals in 360 appearances during his time at Anfield, he will be hard to replace. 

Despite the Brazilian's impending departure, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp may have already sorted out his replacement. 

After Liverpool's 3-2 victory over Nottingham Forest, Klopp spoke highly of Cody Gakpo, who has scored five goals in 14 Premier League matches since arriving from PSV in the January window. 

The Dutchman started n the centre-forward berth for Liverpool and Klopp hinted at Gakpo replacing Firmino.

"If you watched international football over the last five, six years as a footballer and you love football, and if you are in a similar role, have a similar job to do in the game and you didn't pick up anything from Bobby Firmino, that would be a bad decision, to be honest.

"Cody is 23 years old, he was captain of his former club – I had no clue how that happens that early and then when he arrived here you realise, 'Ah OK, he's a super-smart kid, really open and a real team player' and stuff like this. On top of that, a really good footballer.

"He can play this position, can play wide, can play the centre. The real nine, a bit higher up, he can play that as well, double striker, can play that as well. 

So, he can create his own way there on the position, so it's not like we have to do it exactly [the same] because nobody can do it like Bobby, because nobody is Bobby."

Liverpool's 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest kept their slim Champions League hopes alive but it is still a tall order as they sit 9 points behind Newcastle with 7 games to play.