Nat Phillips, Naby Keita, Takumi Minamino and Mohamed Salah of Liverpool during a training session at Melwood
Liverpool forward Takumi Minamino has joined Southampton on loan for the remainder of the 2020-21 season, where he’ll hopefully see more playing time than he’s been getting at Liverpool.
The Japan international has played 31 games and scored four goals since arriving at Anfield from Red Bull Salzburg last January and heads to St Mary’s after a deal was agreed on the transfer deadline day,his arrival comes at a good time for the Saints after fellow loanee Theo Walcott limped off injured against Aston Villa on Saturday.
Meanwhile, given the fact that the forward has barely seen any playing time recently having played just six minutes of Premier League football since Liverpool’s 7-0 win against Crystal Palace in December and given Klopp’s apparent preference for several other players over him, the deal seems to make sense for all parties.
The 26-year-old forward who joined Liverpool in January 2020 from Red Bull Salzburg after impressing against them in October with a goal and assist as the Austrian side narrowly suffered a 4-3 defeat at Anfield and caught everyone’s eye once more in the return fixture that ended 2-0 in favour of Liverpool in December, has made just eight appearances for Liverpool this season but will be hoping for more first-team football at St Mary’s.
It’s not what anyone was hoping for when the midfielder was signed from RB Salzburg last January, but hopefully Minamino will continue to develop his game at St. Mary’s and make the kind of impact there that Danny Ings has made. Whether or not he has a future at Anfield, he’ll definitely have a lot of Reds fans rooting for him.
Please note that prior to his (Minamino) spell at Red Bull Salzburg, the forward who primarily started as a central attacking midfielder or winger and can also play as a wide midfielder joined Salzburg for less than £1m from Japan top-tier side Cerezo Osaka in January 2015.
Southampton sit 11th in the top flight ahead of the latest round of fixtures this midweek, which sees them travel to Manchester United on Tuesday night.
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