Topic: Takumi Minamino

[newterp]

Fee agreed with Monaco for £15.5m. Good luck Taki.

Not bad - doubled our money - and he was a useful player.

Key player in getting us our two trophies last season.

Good luck!

[Dim Glas]

Good deal all round. 

Taki was a decent cheap squad player who played a massive role in winning two cups, all in all, a transfer that worked out well.

[Chakan]

Good luck for the future Taki. Thanks and all the best.

[Father Ted]

Always liked him but he was never going to get the game time with us and so a move is probably good for both parties.

[Ghost Town]

All the best Taki. A really good penalty box and running-on goalscorer whose time here was badly affected by the covid lockdown and pandemic and the sheer quality and durability of our starting attackers

The Monoco fan version of Al is sharpening his mental pencils, no doubt

[Mister Flip Flop]

Never looked like he was going to make it here unfortunately.

Best of luck Taki

[Samie]

Good luck to him. Shame it wasn't mean to be as he's a decent squad player for us, just wasn't what we needed exactly. 

[Ravishing Rick Dude]

All the best Taki.

[MBL?]

Would have liked to keep him as backup but his value would have only dropped so probably the best move for all concerned.

I have no problem with his quotes, I’m sure he believed he deserved more playing time and was disappointed not to get it. With him sadio  and origi gone that is a good few goals to replace next season. Let’s hope the new lads hit the ground running.

[didi shamone]

Was good enough to play in most of our teams in the last few decades, just not this one. Was never gonna be a starter and the deal makes sense all round.
Good luck to him.

[Dim Glas]

Never looked like he was going to make it here unfortunately.

Best of luck Taki

Open to debate that! Depends what you expected of him. Or do you look at it as being that the players who make it are those who play 40-50 games a season and become stars?

Not every players is brought in with the hope he’s going to be a superstar. It’s a squad game. They took a chance on a player with a cheap buyout. He came into a club with one of the most formidable attacks around.  He contributed more than enough to justify his fee, and I presume not mad wages, over his time here.

[meady1981]

I heard it’s because we pissed off 60-70% of China

[disgraced cake]

I suppose this is the end, then ...

I like Minamino a lot and ultimately we'll look back and think how important he was winning a domestic double with us. Shame he couldn't find the minutes he wanted in the League or Europe, I think about how we were at the very top of our game when he signed and even though it looked like we had the league tied up half way through the season it was still hard for him to come by minutes with what we already had in front of him. I actually thought we'd sell him last summer after it hadn't worked out for him at Southampton, but we got some great contributions from him this season. Double figures, and most importantly I think that goal at the death against Leicester.

Hopefully he can play first team football there because at 27 he has good years ahead of him. I'll never begrudge any player talking about wanting more play time, because he won everything with Salzburg and he's won a few trophies here, he is a winner and deserves that football. Thanks for some good football and best of luck in Monaco.

[Hazell]

A bit sad he's off but good luck to him, played a huge part in us winning two trophies last season

Was good enough to play in most of our teams in the last few decades, just not this one. Was never gonna be a starter and the deal makes sense all round.
Good luck to him.

Yeah, he's a good player, just couldn't force himself into this team.

[Crosby Nick]

Taki Bye.

[Ghost Town]

Open to debate that! Depends what you expected of him. Or do you look at it as being that the players who make it are those who play 40-50 games a season and become stars?

Not every players is brought in with the hope he’s going to be a superstar. It’s a squad game. They took a chance on a player with a cheap buyout. He came into a club with one of the most formidable attacks around.  He contributed more than enough to justify his fee, and I presume not mad wages, over his time here.

Spot on

In fact there's no debate about it. He absolutely 'made it' in terms of what he was brought in as. A cheap, opportunist deal due to his low release clause, to act as a backup attacker. He has won multiple trophies at one of the best clubs in the world and his goals have been instrumental to winning several cups. Many players will never be able to boast half as much on their CV.

And all that after having his arrival and settling in disrupted by lockdown and pandemic. Who knows what his contributions might have been if that hadn't happened?

[Knight]

If our other forwards had finished like him last season we’d have won a CL pot as well as a couple of domestic ones. Was absolutely lethal in front of goal. Good luck Taki.

[Samie]

Al got his wish. 

[rafathegaffa83]

Thanks and good luck

Spot on

In fact there's no debate about it. He absolutely 'made it' in terms of what he was brought in as. A cheap, opportunist deal due to his low release clause, to act as a backup attacker. He has won multiple trophies at one of the best clubs in the world and his goals have been instrumental to winning several cups. Many players will never be able to boast half as much on their CV.

And all that after having his arrival and settling in disrupted by lockdown and pandemic. Who knows what his contributions might have been if that hadn't happened?

Exactly

[RedG13]

Thanks for the cups best of Luck in the future

[storkfoot]

Personally, I’ll never forget how good he was for Salzburg against us at Anfield and wish him loads of luck for the future.

[rob1966]

Good luck at Monaco Taki, massive part of us winning both cups this season, leaves us with one hell of a medal haul.

[Yosser0_0]

Good for both parties.

One of the few relatively poor transfers we've had in recent years. But then again, we've set incredibly high standards and it just shows you how far we've come in such a short space of time from a pretty average base.

[JerseyKloppite]

Good for both parties.

One of the few relatively poor transfers we've had in recent years. But then again, we've set incredibly high standards and it just shows you how far we've come in such a short space of time from a pretty average base.

Wouldn't even say it's a relatively poor transfer. He's not gone on to establish himself as a first choice starter which is obviously a shame, but for a very modest fee he (with others) afforded us a depth over the last season that gave us a realistic shot at a quadruple and helped us to win two domestic cups last season, being top scorer for us in both.

And after all that we've made a profit on him. I wouldn't say he's been a great success story but he's shown flashes of the clear ability he has that made us sign him in the first place and I fully expect him to kick on in a less physical league.

Good luck Taki

[royhendo]

Taki Bye.

 
So is it deal done?

[Gifted Right Foot]

He may have wanted to be more involved but he played his role perfectly for us.  Glad he got a move to a decent team in the end.

[Keith Lard]

Bloody good player. He's going to do well at Monaco.

[JerseyKloppite]

He may have wanted to be more involved but he played his role perfectly for us.  Glad he got a move to a decent team in the end.

I do think it's a shame that he didn't get on the pitch in the league cup final, or even in the squad for the FA cup final, given his contributions to those tournaments generally. I don't think a player's ego should be massaged at the expense of the team/club but I do think he merited at least a brief appearance at Wembley (and given that we didn't score in either final, he couldn't have made it worse )

[Kopenhagen]

Good luck, Taki. Hope he smashes it. Good deal for Monaco.

[MonsLibpool]

Thank you,Takumi 

[Paul_h]

Good luck Taki. Shame you didn't get to play more this season. We saw you can be utterly clinical at times..
Will follow you at Monaco. At least Monaco gives you CL footie

[Asam]

Did his best, good deal for the club and the player in the end, probably should've played more often in the league as a sub as he has a goal in him

[Spanish Al]

Good little squad player who played as vital role as any in our cup runs.

I don’t know if he was ever thought of as being more than he was so a good transfer all round, given we’ve doubled our  money on the fee. I do think he could have featured more than he did but I think the lockdown coming when it did just meant he was on the back foot from pretty much the beginning and by the time lockdown was over, we’d evolved again and signed Jota who established himself. Not being able to properly integrate with the squad so soon after he signed would have been a major blow to him.

The release clause was one, just like Shaq, that we couldn’t pass up.

All the best Taki!

[amir87]

Gini Mini Mane Mo

[Mighty_Red]

Good deal overall, we know that players won't stay as backup for more than 2 years and he is so far down the pecking orders its almost unfair ro keep him. Still been great for both him and the club, we make a decent profit and he scored the goals that got us to the 2 domestic finals.

Best of luck Taki

[Ghost Town]

Gini Mini Mane Mo

Lines are open for an acceptable version of the next line

[Black Bull Nova]

Gini Mini Mane Mo

 

[Dim Glas]

Good for both parties.

One of the few relatively poor transfers we've had in recent years. But then again, we've set incredibly high standards and it just shows you how far we've come in such a short space of time from a pretty average base.

Again, how was he a ‘reatively poor transfer'?

This sort of comment baffles me to be honest, he was a cheap squad punt, and did more than enough to justify it.  I guess it’s the social media, pundit and tabloid footballing world we live in, that a 7 or 8 mill punt needs to become a mainstay in the team to be cosiderend not ‘reatively poor’.

 

[4pool]

Good luck Taki at Monaco.

[afc tukrish]

Lines are open for an acceptable version of the next line

Martin Tyler, big 'ol ho...