Arsene Wenger has lauded the artistry of Liverpool loanee Takumi Minamino.
The Japan international is proving quite the sensation for Southampton since leaving the Reds to join Ralph Hassenhuttl’s side until the end of the season.
Minamino scored his second Premier League goal for the Saints in their visit of Chelsea this afternoon.
The 27-year-old, who cost Liverpool £7.2 million a little over a year ago, demonstrated the sort of confidence and composure that he had struggled for under Jurgen Klopp.
The former Salzburg attacker latched on to a through ball from Nathan Redmond before perplexing Edouard Mendy with a number of dummy shots, before eventually rolling the ball home on 33 minutes.
And legendary Arsenal boss Wenger was taken back by the Liverpool-owned star’s class.
He told BeIN Sport: “What is very interesting is the number of times Minamino lifts his head to see where the keeper is. You see twice clearly that he lifts his head. He is composed, despite the fact he was under huge pressure. This guy is an artist in his mind.”
It’s puzzling as to why it didn’t really work out at Liverpool.
It must be said that Klopp has much better players and therefore Minamino was never going to play regularly, especially as an attacker, but there’s more to it than that because, well, he looks to have far more belief now than he ever did at Anfield and it’ll be interesting to see if he can maintain this form over the coming months.
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