Takumi Minamino is quietly having an excellent season for Liverpool.
Although the 27-year-old isn’t anything like a regular starter for The Reds, he has more than proved his worth to the squad.
His goal against Cardiff City on Sunday was his seventh of the season. That obviously pales in comparison to Liverpool top scorer Mohamed Salah’s tally of 23.
But it does mean that he has now found the net the same amount of times as seven time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi has this season.
That may sound like a foolish comparison. But it serves to highlight the point that the Japanese is a more than adequate back-up striker for Liverpool
Domestic bliss
Liverpool are looking like they might finally win a domestic cup this season. They’re through to the Carabao Cup final later this month and Sunday’s win against Cardiff puts them in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
A favourable home draw in the next round against Norwich means that they should at least make the quarter-finals.
Minamino has been a big reason for this progression. He scored four goals at a rate of a goal every 97 minutes in the Carabao Cup. This included the dramatic last-minute equaliser that took the quarter-final against Leicester to penalties.
His goal on Sunday came in his first start in this season’s FA Cup.
Two goals in eight Premier League games looks relatively paltry on the face of it. But those two goals have come in just 94 minutes of action for Minamino.
Doing his job
Minamino is often derided for the simple fact that he isn’t as good as Diogo Jota, Sadio Mane or Salah. But given the minutes he has had, he is more than doing the job he is asked to do as a squad player.
He is seemingly satisfied with his role at Liverpool too. Following Sunday’s game, Jurgen Klopp called Minamino’s attitude “outstanding” (liverpoolfc.com).
Without the bottomless funds of a Manchester City or a Chelsea, Liverpool can’t afford to have £40m players sitting on the bench every game.
Minamino cost just £7.25m. To have him contributing as regularly as he is means that this should be seen as yet more brilliant business from Liverpool.
To put it another way, Kai Havertz and Minamino operate in similar roles for their clubs. At £71m, Havertz cost Chelsea almost 10 times what Minamino cost Liverpool.
The German has played exactly 10 times the amount of Premier League minutes as Minamino (944) and has the exact same amount of goals in the competition this season.
That’s of course a simplified way of looking at things. But again, it shows that Liverpool’s number 18 deserves a vast amount of credit for coming in and scoring goals when called upon.
If Liverpool do end up winning anything this season, they’ll need Minamino. His contributions may not be as loud as those of his teammates, but they are still significant.
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