German Football expert Raphael Honigstein says that January transfer signing Takumi Minamino will be the perfect complement to the world class forwards that Liverpool already have at their disposal.
While the deal to sign the Japanese international Red Bull Salzburg is as good as done, Jurgen Klopp was still not willing to go into too many details after Liverpool's 2-1 win against Monterrey at the Club World Cup on Wednesday evening.
"“So, I cannot speak about it - sorry! You are too early.
“It would have felt really good today to be honest if we could have brought him on.
“He's not yet our player so we have to wait for that."
But Honigstein, who is one of the pre-eminent observers when it comes to European Football gave a detailed description of what Minamino can bring to the Reds.
Sky Sports reported Honigstein as saying:
“ He's different because he's not comparable to any of the front three forwards they have at the moment.
“Sadio Mane is very different from Mohamed Salah and Salah is very different from Roberto Firmino. Now you add a fourth guy and you can't really say he's going to be a replacement for X, Y or Z but what it does give you is just a bit more attacking quality.
"What Liverpool have seen over the last year or so was that whenever you bring on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain he perhaps doesn't quite have the impact as one of the front three.
“ He's better in midfield and Xherdan Shaqiri, for all his deft skills, doesn't really do it consistently enough.
“And unless you play Divock Origi through the middle it doesn't really work. Yes, you can swap him for Firmino, but not Mane or Salah.
“So to have a fourth guy that you can rely on would really release the pressure on the other three rocket men up front and would allow Jurgen Klopp to rotate a little bit.
"It makes a lot of sense to have the fourth guy.”
Honigstein was a bit surprised at first that Liverpool did not make a move for Timo Werner who is one of the hottest strikers in World Football.
However, he knows how Liverpool are also adept at finding gems in the market.
"I was probably expecting Liverpool to make a move for Timo Werner. He could have been the fourth guy, but it didn't happen.
"Minamino is a lot cheaper but perhaps also has more value in terms of the improvement and the places he can go.
"Again, Liverpool have learned as a club that you don't buy the finished article for £100m.
"You buy that's going to be worth £50m, £60m or £100m three years down the line thanks to good coaching and thanks to playing in a team that works, and that's really the key behind their recent successes.
“In Premier League terms, Minamino's release clause is almost a free transfer. It's less than £10m and you don't get anyone inside the Premier league for that kind of money.
“Even when you look at Germany or France it's incredibly cheap so even if it doesn't work out for some reason it still wouldn't be a problem because you'd get your money back.
"It's a no-brainer of a deal in financial terms."
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