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Takumi Minamino’s first year as Liverpool footballer largely without pressure.
Having arrived in early January with the Reds in a dominant position in the most sensitive part of the Premier League, the Japanese alien has had great leeway to meet Jurgen Klopp’s gaming demands.
There is little or no expectation that Minamino will fall to the ground after his transfer from red Bull Salzburg on 1 January.
Instead, it has been admitted that it will possibly take some time before he can show the kind of way he saw Liverpool take him out of Austria.
Fabinho and Andy Robertson were two other people whose rises to Anfield’s fame were not entirely overnight and Klopp and his people were calm with the idea that Minamino would stay up to the task at the end of the year.
“I can’t understand his words – two or three days after joining the club, he said he could play the way he was looking to play and simply said he liked to play the way you need to play,” Minamino said of his coach.
Concessions were made for her new £ 7. 25 million boy to enter the fold upon arrival in Merseyside speaking little English.
The Liverpool team, as is tradition, serenade Minamino with a happy birthday performance in Japanese when she turned 25 in mid-January.
Inside the locker room, the resolution was taken to place Minamino’s 18th shirt in the middle of the number 8 and 10 shirt wore respectively by Nathrough Keita and Sadio Mane.
The concept that Keita and Mane are dating Minamino’s former club would help him adapt to the educational stages of his new club.
Mane has taken Keita under his protection for more than two and a half years and the casual plan to do the same for Minamino.
“You know you’re part of the team, but since my English isn’t smart enough yet, their help has been important,” Minamino said in February about Keita and Mane.
“They still assist me at certain events and the first few days they taught me the rules of the team, things like when the meetings started and how the team works on a daily basis. “
Talks with Klopp, at least in the first half, took place in German, as Minamino continued to be informed in English after training.
The Osaka-born leader was also encouraged to launch an Instagram account to help him approach the club’s fan base around the world.
However, the suspension of football in mid-March would probably have had an effect on Minamino more than any other member of the team.
As the Liverpool players packed their bags and prepared for the long and dubious road ahead, Minamino, like his teammates, received an individual education regimen to comply with the lockdown.
Being alone in a downtown apartment without speaking much English will have been tricky for any 25-year-old living about 6,000 kilometers from his family circle in Japan.
WhatsApp teams and Zoom yoga sessions will have been invaluable in getting acquainted with life in Liverpool.
Food packages from nutritionist Mona Nemmer club were also reported after the transient closure of Japanese restaurants in the city.
“If we hadn’t had Mona locked up, I’m pretty sure most of our players would have starved to death!”Klopp said of Nemmer in July.
Minamino tried to immerse he himself in the culture of his new home by walking through the city center and visiting the Beatles’ themed tourist attractions.
Liverpool had followed Minamino from his days with Cerezo Osaka and it was sporting director Michael Edwards’ appointment with his Salzburg counterpart, Christoph Freund, that alerted the club to his modest termination clause.
Manchester United, AC Milan and Borussia Monchengladbach were behind Minamino when the Reds temporarily intervened after negotiations accelerated in November last year.
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Liverpool privately believed that Minamino’s price was 3 times higher than that of the release clause and made sure they were not defeated.
With Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino giving Liverpool an initial lead and the next arrival of a fiery Diogo Jota, it was difficult for Minamino to win at Anfield.
The flexible striker has shown flashes of quality in his 29 matches so far, but not enough to turn on Liverpool’s red.
Its functionality in Saturday’s 7-0 hammering at Crystal Palace, however, is the biggest step forward to date.
Minamino beat her early with a wise touch and finished before completing the whole game.
“He played a best-point match and had a wonderful ending,” Klopp said. “It’s in a while, so we have to use it.
“I saw him in the locker room after the game and you couldn’t see the smile on his face. “
Twelve months after Minamino’s signing, she now has a chance to prove she’s arrived.