Minamino interview | Help from Naby and Sadio, working at Melwood and The Beatles
Takumi Minamino’s transition to life at Liverpool has been smoothened by help from Naby Keita and Sadio Mane.
The Japan international is now a little over a month into his Anfield career having transferred from Salzburg and made his fourth appearance for the Reds as a substitute in last Saturday’s 4-0 victory over Southampton.
Keita and Mane are also ex-Salzburg players, of course, with the former a teammate of Minamino for 18 months in Austria prior to his move to Leipzig.
The trio now sit next to each other in the dressing room at Melwood and Minamino is grateful for Keita and Mane’s ongoing assistance.
“You know that you are part of the team, but because my English is not good enough yet their help has been really important,” the No.18 told Liverpoolfc.com.
“They are still helping me on some occasions and during the first days they taught me the team rules, things like what time the meetings started and how the team functions on a daily basis.
“At the moment I speak a lot with the players who can speak German.”
The 25-year-old, meanwhile, considers Melwood the perfect workplace in which to develop his game.
“By playing in the best environment I learn a lot every day and I can improve myself. I am very happy about being here,” he stated.
“Even in the training sessions the level of focus and intensity is really high and the players’ motivation is also very high.”
Minamino is settling in well off the pitch, too, with his eagerness to immerse himself in Liverpudlian culture shown in a social media post last month.
He explained: “Because Liverpool is The Beatles’ city, in this sense I was really interested in the city and I wondered what it would be like.
“When I looked around and saw those things for myself I really enjoyed it.”