Takumi Minamino goes from lost to promising after Diogo Jota injury

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Takumi Minamino sees his situation move from dire to promising after Diogo Jota picks up an injury. The Japanese international is in a strange place.

Diogo Jota has an injury and could be out for some time. Jurgen Klopp says it could be two months before we see the forward play again.

That’s terrible for virtually everyone at Liverpool. Divock Origi may not see it that way, while Takumi Minamino is now in an interesting position.

Minamino may not entirely benefit from the injury to Jota but it places him in a different situation. He’s now the most versatile squad option, particularly in attack.

In fact, he’s now a more versatile option than he was at the start of the season, partly because of Jota.

Versatile

Jota’s form in the forward positions robbed Minamino of minutes. Instead, Klopp has moved the Japan international back into midfield in recent weeks.

Minamino isn’t perfect there but he’s learning the role. We see potential there, too, if Liverpool want to become a very attacking side.

But with Jota out, the 25-year-old is certainly the best option to cover Roberto Firmino. Arguably both Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, as well.

The question now is how Klopp wants to use this. He might only want to use Minamino to take forwards off early for a bit of rest.

But he could use it to create a flexible formation and perhaps turn to 4-2-3-1 more often. He could use Minamino to move between midfield and attack in a more aggressive way to make up for Jota being gone.

Or he could just use Minamino as he did Jota – to drop the forwards either for form or fitness.

Minamino was in a dire position before the Jota injury. He rarely played and when he did, it was making up the numbers in midfield. It’s hard to see him creating a Liverpool career from there.

But now he’s a player who can play in midfield and across the forward line – and there’s room there for him.

It might be exactly what he needed to kick on and finally make it at Anfield. This is his chance – if Klopp gives it to him.

And that’s the key. His situation is just promising right now, rather than good because now we can actually see where he could get games.

There is a chance here for Minamino to become a valuable squad player. If Klopp wants him to be. The next two months should tell us that.