Jurgen Klopp has reaffirmed his hope of Roberto Firmino staying at Liverpool.
Firmino’s existing contract with the Anfield club expires at the end of this season and the forward recently admitted to being keen on an extension.
The Brazil international is currently sidelined with an unspecified injury but has been a rare bright spot for the Reds in their unusually poor campaign.
He also remains one of the few surviving players from Klopp’s arrival in 2015, playing in 340 of the 410 matches of the Liverpool boss’s reigning to date.
And Klopp, who marks 1,000 games in management against Chelsea on Saturday, admits he would welcome Firmino continuing to be part of his plans.
He said: “I think in the first part of the season, we were not flying but Bobby was maybe the only one who played a kind of normal season, in a lot of games at least.
“He’s really important in the link-up play, the way you want to play, maybe it would not fit to all clubs but to most, definitely.
“In tight areas, having an attacking player with his football intelligence who can develop the game from there, who can score on top of that, who’s unselfish to an extent and all these kind of things, you don’t get that very often.
“I don’t know 1000% what his plans are and maybe somebody else will offer him something better, I don’t know. That can all happen.
“But if you ask me just if I want him to say – yes and it’s everything like it should be at this moment in time.”
James Milner, another stalwart of Klopp’s tenure, is also out of contract this summer but belied his age in the midweek FA Cup replay win over Wolves.
Liverpool’s vice-captain revealed last month that he is studying his coaching badges and organising training sessions with the club’s academy teams
“Millie wants to keep playing,” added Klopp.
“When you see him playing now, like the other night, I think everybody would understand that we cannot judge him like normal because of his age or whatever.
“Yes, he’s 37 [but] he doesn’t look for a day like this when he’s in training – he’s there, full throttle.
“He’s an incredibly important player and in this game, you saw on the pitch as well.
“It’s now not that Millie himself expects to play 64 games a season but in 64 games a season, Millie could be extremely important. That’s how it is.
“Millie has reached the 600 games here and most of them for Liverpool.
“I’m pretty sure the club should use this character and mindset because it’s really special.
“There might be more fancy players out there, probably, but nobody with a similar mindset and that makes him incredibly valuable for us.
“It’s not because I’m too loyal – it’s just a fact.”