Takumi Minamino has had a positive start to the season, a year after leaving Liverpool
Takumi Minamino had a good working relationship with Jurgen Klopp
Takumi Minamino has praised Jurgen Klopp’s management skills as the former Liverpool striker begins to flourish a year after his departure.
In a squad that included Dominik Szoboszlai and Erling Haaland, it was the Japan international who earned £7.25 million at Anfield from RB Salzburg in January after an impressive performance against Liverpool in the 2019 season’s Champions League group stage /20.
He would remain on Merseyside for two and a half years, winning three domestic trophies before leaving to sign for AS Monaco in a deal worth £15.5m last summer.
The 28-year-old’s inability to make a dramatic impact at the club was partly understandable. After all, Sadio Mané, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah were an incredibly strong group of players to oust.
Minamino has been a protagonist above all in cup competitions and his important contribution with four goals and an assist in the first rounds of the 2021/22 League Cup will always be appreciated by the fans.
After signing for Monegasques, he endured a difficult first season in Ligue 1. Eighteen appearances yielded just one goal and four assists, although he wasn’t the only one to struggle as Philippe Clement’s side struggled to reach sixth place.
The coach has now been replaced by Adi Hutter – one of Minamino’s former coaches at Salzburg – to whom he has responded excellently.
“I already knew his way of playing, so I tried to put it into practice straight away. You can see that everyone has their own ideas.
For example, he offers us training plans in which his intentions and final goal are always specified,” he told L’Equipe.
Minamino is currently deployed as one of two supporting players behind a lone striker and has scored six goals in five Ligue 1 games so far.
He also gave credit to his former manager at Liverpool, linking Klopp’s qualities with those of Hutter to manage your own self-esteem.
“He always talked to everyone, even those who didn’t play,” continued the striker.
“For me, that’s what makes him such a respected and fair coach to his players. He manages to keep everyone’s motivation intact, even the substitutes.”
