I actually think Liverpool wanted him gone and encouraged it. FFP means that £12m is pure profit and it got his large wages off the books.
Club upper management, almost certainly
Klopp would have been happy for him to stay, fans too - if he accepted the much reduced role. Last season made it clear he was done as a first team player for us.
As Liverpool fan… We absolutely did, it came probably a year sooner than we anticipated, as we wouldn’t have expected to let Henderson, Milner and Fabinho go all in one summer but the midfield was looking tired and the wages were high, a revamp was needed, and getting rid of him helped that. If you want to be successful you can’t be too sentimental and our ownership knows this.
He could have always renegotiated his contract to a lower one and then he’d become an absolute legend, while being repaied over the years as a club embassador that does nothing
There were definitely alternatives, he chose to make a bank which wouldn’t be a problem if he didn’t use some social issues for PR earlier
