The Liverpool players were urging Reds manager Jurgen Klopp to sign Red Bull Salzburg attacker Takumi Minamino after Tuesday’s game, according to the Evening Standard.
The newspaper claims that senior players were telling the German he should make a move for the 22-cap Japan international after Liverpool beat the Austrians 2-0.
It has now emerged that Klopp is preparing to trigger the £7.25million release clause in the 24-year-old’s contract in January, having been tracking him for some time.
Reds sporting director Michael Edwards has been in secret negotiations with his Salzburg counterpart Christoph Freund for over a month now. Personal terms and a medical are all that’s left before the deal is official.
OPINION
This is fascinating stuff, and it tells you all you need to know about what a fantastic talent Minamino is. We saw it in the game on Tuesday, and it appears that the Liverpool players picked up on it, as well. When you consider how dominant the Japanese star has been in the Champions League this campaign, it tells you that he’s destined to make an impact at the top level. As per WhoScored.com, Minamino has managed two goals and three assists in six games, while he is averaging 2.8 shots, two key passes and 1.5 successful dribbles per game. He isn’t the best in possession, his pass success rate is only 76.9% and he is averaging 2.8 unsuccessful touches and 1.7 dispossessions an outing. So that’s an area where he needs to improve, but it’s also kind of a natural hazard of the position he plays. Certainly his passing stats will need to get better in Liverpool red. Still, Edwards has been working on this deal for a while, and he rarely gets things wrong.
