Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp paid tribute to the separated quartet James Milner, Roberto Firmino, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain And Naby Keita.
All four will leave the team next month when their contracts expire and will receive an emotional send-off against Aston Villa at Anfield.
All left as Champions League and Premier League champions, and although Firmino and Milner, who arrived in the summer of 2015 a few months before Klopp replaced Brendan Rodgers, played a larger role, the manager insisted that all four made significant contributions.
“We talked to the kids about it earlier this week,” Klopp said.
“This is very important to us and also very emotional for different reasons because for me we say goodbye to four Liverpool legends.
“Two people were here when I arrived – Millie (Milner) and Bobby (Firmino) – and none of all the good things that have happened over the past few years would have happened without them.
“Bobby, my God, how much I love the man. He deserves it 100 percent.
“Millie has played an incredible number of games, I think I am the manager she has played the most in her career and probably the same for Bobby.
“My English isn’t good enough to really express my respect for them, but it’s the same for Ox (Oxlade-Chamberlain) and Naby for different reasons.
“Ox was definitely unlucky when he got hurt badly at the wrong time. I remember[the 2018 Champions League match]when he was heavily injured against Roma and I had no idea how to handle it as he was so good and almost irreplaceable at that moment.
“Everyone knows we spent a lot of money for Naby and we had a lot of expectations and he couldn’t fulfill it all due to injuries at the wrong moment and look at the football he was able to come back and play in his good moments.”
Milner is heavily linked to his move to Brighton, but the future of the other three is less clear, though offers will not be lacking.
Klopp said, “I wish them all well and I hope they find a place where they are as respected and needed as they are here and find their chance again because they have been through so much over the past few years.
“All four have won almost every current trophy and we love them but this is professional football and nothing lasts forever.
“There is always a moment and that is a good moment because it means that one chapter is closing and we can start writing a new one, which is good for them and for us.
“I will be forever grateful to them because without them there would be nothing. They were so important in everything they did and this is the farewell they deserve.”
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