RB Salzburg’s Takumi Minamino looked like a potential star against Liverpool and the Reds should take note.
Liverpool’s meeting with the Austrian champions was a classic – not that anyone would have seen it coming after 36 minutes. Liverpool raced into a 3-0 lead early on but it was 3-3 by the hour mark.
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Mohamed Salah sealed the points in the 4-3 win but Liverpool were rocked. And that was largely down to Minamino.
The Japanese forward has been at Salzburg since 2015 and while his record there is merely decent, he looks like a real talent.
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Minamino retained the ball as well as anyone on the pitch – no easy task when you’re sharing a field with Roberto Firmino. He grabbed a goal, too, and created Salzburg’s equaliser.
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In terms of style, he looks like a Liverpool player. Minamino drifted across the pitch, dropped deep, found spaces in ways that again looked like Firmino.
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On top of that, we know players can develop from Salzburg to Liverpool standard. Both Sadio Mane and Naby Keita developed there before moving on.
Perhaps Minamino, despite being a little older, can do the same. He’s clearly a very talented player and one who appears to suit Liverpool.
His performance showed that and Minamino is a player Liverpool should have an eye on.