"He’s the reason Salah and Mane scored all of those goals" - Liverpool legend not happy with talks of possible swap deal with Barcelona for 30-year-old

Former Liverpool midfielder John Barnes is not pleased with reports of a possible swap deal with Barcelona involving Memphis Depay and Roberto Firmino in the upcoming winter window.

Firmino has entered the final year of his contract with the Reds and could leave on a free transfer next summer. He has been in decent form this season, scoring and assisting three goals apiece in eight appearances across competitions.

Barnes, who was crowned the English league champion twice with the Reds in 1988 and 1990, rates Firmino highly and doesn't want him to be sold.

He even argued that Firmino's presence helped Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah thrive at Liverpool.

“Firmino is my favorite striker in terms of what he gives his team not just in terms of scoring goals but work rate. He’s the reason Salah and Mane scored all of those goals because of the way he plays."

Barnes further noted:

“Obviously we have Nunez who plays differently but I would always keep Bobby and if Bobby left I would be very sad. He has to decide if he wants to play regularly but if it was up to me I would definitely keep Bobby,” Barnes told BonusCodeBets.

Roberto Firmino has scored 101 goals and laid down 77 assists in 335 games for the Reds.

"I would expect Liverpool to win that game comfortably" - John Barnes predicts result of the Reds' upcoming clash against Brighton & Hove Albion

Barnes also went on to predict the result of Liverpool's upcoming Premier League clash against Brighton & Hove Albion.

The Seagulls switched managers after Graham Potter joined Chelsea earlier this month following Thomas Tuchel's sacking. Barnes believes the Reds will thus win the game easily.

Former Sassuolo and Shakhtar Donetsk manager Roberto De Zerbi has been appointed Brighton's new head coach.

“Well you would expect Liverpool to beat Brighton either way. Obviously Brighton are a different proposition after Graham Potter leaving because they were well organized, they were well used to it. This is going to be their first game."

He added:

“A new coach, new ideas. It’s going to take him time to bed in, time to settle in so I don’t think it’s going to be the same brand that we’ve seen so I would expect Liverpool to win that game comfortably.”

Jurgen Klopp's side have made a poor start to the Premier League season. They have won just two of their six matches so far and are eighth in the table with nine points from six matches.

Their Champions League campaign has got off to a rough start as well. They were thrashed 4-1 by Napoli before returning to winning ways in the competition with a 2-1 victory over Ajax.