Minamino Liverpool struggles revealed as teammate cites accent issue

Trent Alexander-Arnold has lifted the lid on Takumi Minamino’s struggle to settle into life at Liverpool – and of the Japanese star’s issues with the Scouse accent.

The Japan national arrived in January for the bargain price of £7.25million from Red Bull Salzburg, Liverpool’s costliest signing since they paid £65m to sign goalkeeper Alisson Becker from Roma in summer 2018.

The player has endured a slow start to life in the Premier League, with Jurgen Klopp using him sparingly. Initially, only able to communicate in German through his manager, and teammates Sadio Mane and Naby Keita, it is hoped that the talented player will have more of an impact next season.

Both Mane and Keita spent time with Red Bull Leipzig and so are both fluent in German, so the pair have been the first port of call for Minamino.

And now Alexander-Arnold has admitted the player only knew the absolute basic English when he arrived and, having struggled with his Scouse accent, now says his teammate is learning the language at a rate of knots.

“I’d probably say Takumi [struggles most with my accent],” Alexander-Arnold told GQ magazine. “He didn’t speak a lot of English when he first came, but he is probably the fastest learner I’ve ever seen for someone learning a language.”

Minamino has done various interviews since arriving on Anfield and admits he is determined to win the trust of his teammates.

Following his outing against Shrewsbury in the FA Cup, the Japan playmaker admitted there was three aspects of his game he needed to improve.

“I need to raise my tactical awareness and show my versatility,” he said.

“I started in a role that I’m used to, where I was able to receive the ball in good positions, but in the 2nd half I became less involved. I have to be more aggressive.”

Since then, he has been more forthright about his struggles to adapt.

 

READ MORE: Four aspects of Minamino performance drive Klopp crazy

 

“In the last three months there have been areas which I’m quite happy about,” Minamino said. “But personally I would love to contribute more to goals and assists – I’m feeling very hungry about that.

“I don’t really know how much I still need to learn. But day by day, I’m feeling that I understand his [Klopp’s] philosophies and I’m getting better.

“I have to show results. I think this is very important in order to win trust from the teammates and trust from the supporters. I think this is a very important thing that I have to achieve.”