Former Liverpool Centre-Back Claims Roberto Firmino Was Overweight After Arrival at Anfield

Former Liverpool centre-back Phil Babb has claimed Reds forward Roberto Firmino was overweight when he joined the club last year.

Firmino was a £29m acquisition from Hoffenheim in 2015, and ended the season with 10 Premier League goals in 31 appearances after a slow start to life in a Liverpool shirt.

He has started this season extremely well, alongside fellow forwards Sadio Mane and Philippe Coutinho, and has become a fan favourite at Anfield - indeed, he only added to his popularityby scoring in the 6-1 demolition of Watford on Sunday afternoon.

Speaking to LFC as quoted byInside Futbol, Babb, who made 128 league appearances in six years at Liverpool, has claimed fans are seeing the best of Brazilian now he's lost a few pounds of weight.

"Certainly when he came to the club you could argue it took a long time for us to see the best of him," Babb claimed.

"He was a little bit overweight. He looks a lot stronger now, leaner, he can last 90 minutes plus.

"The end of last season when he was pushed to play as the lone striker, or certainly through the middle, he did really well. I think he got ten or eleven goals from that position.

"It just works well with the players behind him."

Firmino has thrived under the tutelage of Jurgen Klopp, who took over as manager of Liverpool last season from Brendan Rodgers after the Reds' poor start to the season.