Real Madrid are reportedly eyeing up the potential transfer of Liverpool forward Roberto Firmino as a replacement for the ageing Karim Benzema.
Spanish outlet Don Balon claim Madrid president Florentino Perez sees Firmino as an ideal successor to Benzema up front after his superb performances during his time at Anfield.
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The Brazil international has become one of the finest attacking players in world football under the guidance of Reds boss Jurgen Klopp, playing a starring role for the club in their recent success in the Champions League and in this season’s Premier League title race.
Benzema is a club legend and would be a tough act to follow at the Bernabeu, but Firmino does seem an ideal option to come in and fill that role.
The pair are similar in that, despite playing up front, they don’t tend to score as many goals as traditional centre-forwards, but both are instrumental to their teams due to their work rate and unselfish play.
Don Balon claim Liverpool would ask for as much as £126million for Firmino, which seems pretty reasonable in this current market.
However, one imagines the Merseyside giants will surely not be letting the 28-year-old go any time soon as they’re no longer in a position where Europe’s elite can genuinely guarantee players more success than they’d otherwise enjoy at LFC.
This was the case when Liverpool lost the likes of Luis Suarez, Philippe Coutinho and Raheem Sterling in the past, but Firmino can surely pick up many more big trophies if he stays where he is.