Liverpool boss blown away by £7.2m Edwards signing with ‘exceptional’ first touch

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Jurgen Klopp has tipped Takumi Minamino to blossom into a ‘real player’ for Liverpool after opening his account on Saturday night.

Minamino equalised for the Reds in their Community Shield defeat by Arsenal in what was his first goal for the Premier League champions.

The Japan international, a £7.2 million signing in January, also scored his penalty during the shootout in what could be an additional bit of confidence to a player who seriously struggled during the second half of last term.

The former Salzburg winger managed only some 170 minutes of football during Project Restart when Liverpool got their title bid back underway following a three-month hiatus.

Adapting to English football is difficult ordinarily, but especially during an unprecedented pandemic without his loved ones.

And the German manager is hoping that Minamino can take heart from getting that goalscoring monkey off his back at Wembley.

He told Liverpool’s official website: “He is a player who is really useful for us, let me say it like this. It was not only the goal today. He is in between, he is really good in small spaces, his first touch is exceptional, then his decision-making between the lines is really quick.

“That helps as well. So, yes, he can be a real player for us – that was always clear. He came in in the most difficult period of all our lives, I would say, and had to adapt to different things, being alone in England in the lockdown and all that stuff. That’s all not something that’s nice.

“But he dealt really well with it because he’s a super professional. So I’m really pleased for him that he could score the goal today and that’s another big step for him.”

Liverpool’s Director of Football Michael Edwards has a pretty outstanding record when it comes to recruitment.

Hell, he has played a massive role in Klopp’s side being where they are now and that’s because he and the manager invariably sign the right players, for the right positions.

They haven’t all worked out, and some have failed to make the grade on Merseyside, but the talent is certainly there with Minamino – as he showed against his current club in the Champions League last season – and in time, he’ll show it much more regularly.