The whole of Liverpool’s squad has been affected by the injury crisis this year, but it’s also easy to forget that Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane haven’t lived up to their usual standards either.
Jurgen Klopp does have plenty of attacking alternatives at his disposal but Diogo Jota is the only one to make a regular impact, but it still feels like it will take new signings to come in and break up the current front three rather than the fringe players getting a chance.
Takumi Minamino was one of those players who struggled to get a regular chance in the team, and he ended up moving to Southampton on loan in his search for regular first-team football.
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He’s scored a couple of nice goals in his time there but he’s not really done enough to suggest he needs to start for Liverpool next season, and a report from Goal has looked at what lies in wait for him.
They quote the player from an interview he gave to Kyodo News, and it does sound like he knows he’ll need to leave this summer:
“I am focusing on the present and what I can do now. I’m a footballer so I don’t know where I’ll be playing in six months’ time, but I want to be playing at a high level.
“It was very difficult to get a chance in that team but that was always the challenge for me from the beginning, so I wasn’t in a negative mindset at all, even in training.
“It was just about trying to play in matches, get into the starting lineup, and figuring out what I can do to achieve those goals.”
He’s always been a popular player with the Liverpool fans so it will be a shame if he does move on, but it would also be good to see him get a full season to show what he can do in one of Europe’s top five leagues.