Premier League Leaders Liverpool FC Sign Takumi Minamino: Who Is Reds' New Signing?

Liverpool FC on Thursday confirmed an agreement was reached with Redbull Salzburg for the transfer of Takumi Minamino.

Minamino, whose personal terms were agreed and who passed the medical test on Merseyside, is set to become Liverpool's official player on Jan. 1.

Liverpool played Salzburg in the Champions League's group stage recently. In the first leg, which was in Anfield, Salzburg scored three goals even though they ended up on the losing side with the final scoreline 4-3. The Japanese was one of the goal-scorers for the tourists in that match. He was once again impressive during Liverpool's 2-0 win in Austria.

When the transfer rumors broke a few days back, quite a few fans were surprised but it is believed that Klopp and co have been working over it for a while now, having tracked the young froward since 2013.

While his $9.5 million contract release clause has attracted quite a few clubs from Premier League, courtesy to their good terms with Salzburg, Liverpool beat them to the final deal.

Born in Izumisano, Japan, the attacking midfielder joined Salzburg for less than $1.3 million from Japan's top-tier side Cerezo Osaka in January 2015. He scored seven goals in 62 appearances for the Japanese club before he evolved at Salzburg.

Having played 136 matches for Salzburg between 2015 and 2019, Minamino netted as many as 42 goals. Since the Austrian club does not play next until February, the Champions League home fixture against Liverpool turned out to be his last for the Austrian side.

Minamino is the fifth current Liverpool player signed from a club linked with Red Bull's head of sport and development Ralf Rangnick after Naby Keita, Sadio Mane, Joel Matip and Roberto Firmino.

The 24-year-old, who made his national debut four years ago, has 11 international goals to his name from 22 caps for Japan.