Liverpool forward Takumi Minamino has gone viral.
The Japanese international started as the Reds beat Newcastle United 3-1 thanks to goals from Virgil van Dijk, Divock Origi and Sadio Mane.
Dwight Gayle struck first after capitalising on van Dijk’s initial error, but the Magpies couldn’t hang on to their lead as Liverpool were too strong for Steve Bruce’s side.
Takumi Minamino started on the left of the front three as Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp continued his integration of the January arrival. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was given another run-out on the right of the forward trio while Origi featured through the middle.
After the game, fans took to Twitter to talk about the former Salzburg man as they expressed their opinions. Everyone wants to see Minamino do well, who works hard and appears to get better with each appearance.
He wasn’t the most typical arrival for a side who was top of the table in January. Taki was picked up for a modest price, wasn’t the type of star who would come in and instantly lift levels and, at 25-years-old, isn’t an instant player for the future.
But by the time Minamino was substituted off, he’d made some extra fans and put his best foot forward in his quest to play as much football as possible next season.
Even when new players aren’t setting the world alight you can see things in their game that tell you they’ll be fine. It happened with Fabinho, Keita, Robertson and Oxlade-Chamberlain and it was clear in Minamino today. There’s a good Liverpool player in there and isn’t far away.
— Dan (@Dan23_92) July 26, 2020
Another interesting development in the game was the continued use of Oxlade-Chamberlain as Mohamed Salah’s replacement. Could this be part of Klopp’s plan to cover that position while not making moves in the transfer market?
With Harry Wilson and Xherdan Shaqiri’s futures uncertain, Liverpool could cash in on those two players and find creative solutions within the existing squad.
Minamino can play on the right, too, but we’ve seen he’s at his best when he plays through the middle. That will be his future at Merseyside and the win against Newcastle was one of his many tentative steps to get there.