Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has said at his latest press conference, which was broadcast on the club’s official website, that the reason Takumi Minamino was often overlooked was because of his size.
With Liverpool losing both Joe Gomez and Virgil van Dijk, Minamino was one of the worst impacted players.
Because the Reds had lost two of their biggest aerial presences, Klopp was worried about throwing in another attacker who is so weak in the air.
And, ultimately, Liverpool couldn’t take the risk of picking Minamino, as it would have left them too vulnerable to set-pieces.
The £7 million Japanese international (BBC Sport) has now been loaned out to Southampton for the rest of the season, in the hope that he will receive regular game time.
And Klopp said: “We didn’t give him enough chances, that is the truth. He is an incredibly good player.
“That’s for different reasons, sometimes it’s just the size because of our problems with the defence. We were not tall enough and then with Takumi on the pitch we think how can we do that then, defending set pieces.
“Southampton makes a lot of sense. He’s there for 17 games. If he stays fit there’s a good chance he will play 17 games. That helps them and it helps us.”
Klopp’s words shed some light over why Divock Origi has been favoured to Minamino in recent times.
Liverpool actually have more central defensive options to call upon now, after their deadline day business, but it was clearly felt that Minamino’s development would benefit from going out on loan.
Minamino would have watched his Southampton teammates for the first time last night, but he wouldn’t have liked what he saw, as they fell to a 9-0 defeat against Manchester United.
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