Liverpool are on the verge of making Luis Diaz their surprise January €65million addition and Takumi Minamino could make out the of Anfield his way instead in what would be a cruel way to reward a clinical half-season.
The Athletic’s James Pearce wrote this morning that he’s unsure whether the Colombian’s arrival means Liverpool will sell an attacker or not.
“It remains to be seen if Diaz’s arrival leads to the departure of Takumi Minamino and/or and/or Divock Origi before Monday’s deadline,” Pearce writes.
“Liverpool are open to offers for those two, in the knowledge that their game time is likely to be further restricted now Diaz is in the mix.”
Now, the Daily Mail reports that relegation-threatened Leeds United are cranking up their interest in the Japan international, who has been an underrated performer for Liverpool this season and a key reason for the Reds making it to the Carabao Cup final.
The 15th-placed Premier League outfit is keen on taking £20million-rated Minamino on loan this season and although I understand the former RB Salzburg star is now highly unlikely to get many minutes, I can’t help but feel for him.
He has 6 goals and 1 assist in all competitions this season and despite playing a total of 18 games, he has played just 732 minutes which means he has a goal involvement every 104 minutes.
In fact, when Minamino was slammed for missing an open goal against Arsenal in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final, it was his first shot off target for 9 games and until that point, he had 4 goals and 1 assist.
Leeds consider the 27-year-old to be a ‘serious’ target and want to take him on loan until the end of the season despite the fact he has not started a single Premier League game this term.
He excelled on loan with Southampton last season although he ended the season with just 6 goals and 2 assists.
That’s not an awful return for a half-season spell with a midtable side in a new setting and the Japanese forward, who Jurgen Klopp labelled “very quick, very clever” when he first joined the club in 2020, would shine at Elland Road.
Liverpool have all but captured Luis Diaz but they have been long-term admirers of Leeds’ Raphinha so loaning Minamino to Marcelo Bielsa’s men might help grease the wheels on a potential summer move for the Brazilian.
He’s reportedly valued at £60million but if the Reds coming knocking in the summer, he will only have two years remaining on his contract which expires in 2024 so Julian Ward, who will be taking over from Michael Edwards in the summer and has been shadowing on the Diaz deal, may be able to lower that fee.
Raphinha has scored 8 goals and assisted 2 for Leeds this season with 3 goals and 2 assists coming in his last 10 games.
