Takumi Minamino CANNOT make his Liverpool debut on Thursday against Sheffield United as per Premier League rules. Minamino joined Liverpool on December 19 on a four-and-a-half-year contract from Red Bull Salzburg. The deal will be official from January 1 and Liverpool host United in their first game of 2020 on the following day. Speaking after beating Wolves 1-0 at Anfield, Klopp told the media that he hopes to have Nathaniel Phillips, who’s loan at Stuttgart was cut short and Minamino available for selection to face Chris Wilder’s men. He said: “For the next game we’ll maybe have two more players. “Maybe Nat Phillips will be here and Takumi [Minamino]. We have to see how he is after the winter break, he trained obviously, but not with the team.” But according to Premier League regulations, Minamino won’t be able to feature for the Reds. The rule states: “New players signed on 1-2 January will not be eligible for Matchweek 21. “But they can be made available for the following Matchweeks as clubs are permitted to make changes to their squad lists throughout the January window.” It means Minamino’s debut could come against Everton in the FA Cup third round next Sunday. READ MORE Mikel Arteta makes Granit Xhaka transfer statement Liverpool go into the new year thirteen points clear of second-place Leicester but Klopp is refusing to think too far ahead. “It is a long way to go for all of us. Everybody asks me how was my 2019; my 2019 was brilliant but it’s not important because we count seasons not years so the 2019-20 season is not over,” he said. “We are halfway there, we still have 19 games to play and probably 18 or 19 of them will be like this tonight, for different reasons. “We will now face teams who fight for the league with all they have, then the fight for the Champions League and European spots is reopened again so they will fight with all they have and we have to be ready. “Who cares about points in December? We just created a basis which we will work with from now on, that’s all. “I think our fans are exactly like the team is: they are not interested in the moment, they don’t want to celebrate now and stuff like this. They take it like it is. “They dig in in a game like today and today I liked it a lot how the fans were: really in the game, this was a game when the crowd can be nervous and they weren’t, so that’s good. “We are a unit so we fight until somebody says ‘you have enough points or not’. We will see but it is not about belief. If we would not be confident it would be really crazy but it’s not about knowing or wanting to know that it’s already done.”
Why Takumi Minamino will not make Liverpool debut on Thursday despite Jurgen Klopp comment
Takumi Minamino CANNOT make his Liverpool debut on Thursday against Sheffield United as per Premier League rules. Minamino joined Liverpool on December 19 on a four-and-a-half-year contract from Red Bull Salzburg. The deal will be official from January 1 and Liverpool host United in their first game of 2020 on the following day. Speaking after beating Wolves 1-0 at Anfield, Klopp told the media that he hopes to have Nathaniel Phillips, who’s loan at Stuttgart was cut short and Minamino available for selection to face Chris Wilder’s men. He said: “For the next game we’ll maybe have two more players. “Maybe Nat Phillips will be here and Takumi [Minamino]. We have to see how he is after the winter break, he trained obviously, but not with the team.” But according to Premier League regulations, Minamino won’t be able to feature for the Reds. The rule states: “New players signed on 1-2 January will not be eligible for Matchweek 21. “But they can be made available for the following Matchweeks as clubs are permitted to make changes to their squad lists throughout the January window.” It means Minamino’s debut could come against Everton in the FA Cup third round next Sunday. READ MORE Mikel Arteta makes Granit Xhaka transfer statement Liverpool go into the new year thirteen points clear of second-place Leicester but Klopp is refusing to think too far ahead. “It is a long way to go for all of us. Everybody asks me how was my 2019; my 2019 was brilliant but it’s not important because we count seasons not years so the 2019-20 season is not over,” he said. “We are halfway there, we still have 19 games to play and probably 18 or 19 of them will be like this tonight, for different reasons. “We will now face teams who fight for the league with all they have, then the fight for the Champions League and European spots is reopened again so they will fight with all they have and we have to be ready. “Who cares about points in December? We just created a basis which we will work with from now on, that’s all. “I think our fans are exactly like the team is: they are not interested in the moment, they don’t want to celebrate now and stuff like this. They take it like it is. “They dig in in a game like today and today I liked it a lot how the fans were: really in the game, this was a game when the crowd can be nervous and they weren’t, so that’s good. “We are a unit so we fight until somebody says ‘you have enough points or not’. We will see but it is not about belief. If we would not be confident it would be really crazy but it’s not about knowing or wanting to know that it’s already done.”
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