Southampton seal 11th-hour loan deal for Liverpool’s Takumi Minamino

Liverpool’s Takumi Minamino has completed a sensational loan move to Southampton in the dying embers of January’s transfer deadline day.

The Japan international has agreed to spend the remainder of the season on the south coast as he goes in search of more game time, having struggled to break into Jürgen Klopp’s plans this season.

Jurgen Klopp, Takumi MinaminoJurgen Klopp, Takumi Minamino
Jurgen Klopp has used Minamino sparingly | Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

The transfer window seemed to be drawing to a quiet close, before news broke of the Saints’ pursuit of the 26-year-old with fewer than two hours remaining to seal the deal.

Having passed a last-minute medical, the 11th-hour loan move has been confirmed in a statement on Southampton’s website. Boss Ralph Hasenhuttl said: “I am very pleased to welcome Takumi to our squad for the rest of this season.

“He will help provide another good attacking option, and is importantly the right profile of player for us. This will give us some additional depth in our squad at an important time, and I am looking forward to beginning work with him on the training pitch.”

Minamino – who only joined Liverpool from RB Salzburg a year ago – has featured 17 times in all competitions this season, but has struggled for starts behind the established front three of Sadio Mané, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino.

However, he has still managed four goals and two assists, and his versatility means he will give the Saints an option out wide and in attacking midfield. A lack of quality depth would have been a real concern for Hasenhuttl as his side attempt to mount a European challenge in the second half of the season.

The move has also enabled Southampton to send Shane Long out on loan to Championship promotion hopefuls Bournemouth. The Irishman has never been a regular scorer at St Mary’s, but his hard work and willingness to run the channels had seen him in stay in favour over the past few seasons.

Hasenhuttl will like Minamino's pressing styleHasenhuttl will like Minamino's pressing style
Hasenhuttl will like Minamino’s pressing style | Robin Jones/Getty Images

Minamino is Southampton’s only arrival of the January window, while young defender Yan Valery was the second player to leave the club on deadline day. He’s joined Birmingham City on loan, having been shut out of the first team picture by Kyle Walker-Peters.

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Celtic’s Olivier Ntcham completes loan move to Marseille

Celtic’s French midfielder Olivier Ntcham has completed a deadline day loan move back to his homeland with Marseille.

The short-term deal includes an option to buy at the end of the season for as little as £4.4m, according to earlier reports in France.

Ntcham completed a medical on Monday afternoon, before the deal was officially confirmed in the evening.

Ntcham had yet to feature for the Hoops in 2021, having fallen down the pecking order behind youngster David Turnbull and Ismaila Soro, and reports suggest he had requested a move away from the club in January.

The 24-year-old joined the Glasgow club from Manchester City in 2017, but fitness issues and form have led to an inconsistent four-year stint at Celtic Park in which he has scored 24 goals in 147 appearances, laying on 13 more.

There have been times when he has shown genuine promise – at his peak, he scored a famous winning goal against Lazio at Stadio Olimpico – but he has faded in and out of the team this campaign, and his time at Celtic is likely up.

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Ntcham celebrates his famous strike at Lazio | TIZIANA FABI/Getty Images

The rumoured low fee in the option to buy – which is less than Celtic actually paid for Ntcham from City – suggests Neil Lennon is ready to cut his losses on the Frenchman, whose contract is due to expire in summer 2022.

90min revealed back in August that there was extensive interest in him from the Premier League, and while that has faded due to his form in Scotland, it has survived to some extent – on Sunday, Sky Sports reported that Newcastle had made their interest clear.

However, Ntcham has elected to move to the south of France, while Newcastle have instead landed Arsenal’s Joe Willock on loan until the end of the 2020/21 campaign.

Earlier on deadline day Celtic confirmed their one and only January signing with the arrival of right-back Jonjoe Kenny on loan from Everton, with the 23-year-old signed as a replacement for Jeremie Frimpong.

Another former Man City player, the 20-year-old joined Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen earlier in the window, much to the dismay of Lennon. Celtic remain 23 points behind Rangers in the Scottish Premiership in what has been a torrid season on all fronts for the Bhoys.

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Southampton loan is the best case scenario for Takumi Minamino and Liverpool

When Liverpool announced the signing of Takumi Minamino from RB Salzburg in December 2019, it made sense for a number of reasons.

Firstly, it provided some established cover for a starting cast of attackers that desperately needed the relief.

Secondly, though, it was virtually risk free.

The miniscule fee involved, somewhere around the £7.5m mark, eliminated any chance of it blowing up in their faces. Even if it didn’t quite work out, they were covered, and stood to make a decent profit on their investment.

As a last-gasp loan move to Southampton edges ever closer, it looks as if Liverpool will be relying on the latter in the months ahead.

The fact that Xherdan Shaqiri and Divock Origi started against West Ham at the weekend, as Minamino watched on from the bench, doesn’t exactly bode well for his immediate future at Anfield – especially when Diogo Jota stands on the verge of a return from injury that will push him even further down the pecking order.

It’s unclear what has changed for a player who has managed just six minutes on the pitch since he played a key role in dismantling Crystal Palace just before Christmas, but it was always a possibility when he signed on a shoestring deal from RB Salzburg.

And while Plan A would have been for him to grasp the gold rings and carve out a place for himself in the first team, it is now vital for the contingency that he plays regular football somewhere else for the second half of 2020/21.

Southampton is exactly the right-place for the misfitting forward to relaunch a career that still holds real promise. Ralph Hasenhuttl has steadily implemented a style of football that will be well familiar to Minamino – the parallels between the Austrian’s Saints and the RB Salzburg side in which he rose to prominence need little explanation.

According to David Ornstein, there is real excitement at Southampton about adding Minamino to their ranks, and how could there not be? As recently as late 2019, he was tearing things up in Austria to the same extent that Sadio Mane was prior to his move to the south coast, and they now have a clearly defined tactical style that is far more suited to such an energetic pressing forward.

That’s not to say Minamino will rock up and conquer like Mane did, but with regular football, it’s reasonable to expect some strong performances from a player who will be desperate to make an impact.

Should he perform as expected, that leaves Liverpool in a strong position come the summer – do they give him a second chance to work his way into the side, or do they cash in for a substantial profit just as he comes into the peak of his powers?

It may not be exactly what they envisioned when they announced his signing 12 months ago, but a loan to the south coast allows Liverpool, and Minamino, to make a win of the situation yet.

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Liverpool provide injury update on Joel Matip

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has confirmed defender Joel Matip will miss the rest of the season with an ankle ligament injury, after the Cameroonian sat out the 3-1 victory over West Ham on Sunday.

After a window of insisting that there would be no major incoming business, Matip’s absence sparked a deadline day frenzy that ended with the Reds recruiting Ben Davies from Preston and Ozan Kabak from Schalke.

Many had questioned the reasoning behind the sudden change of tact, but minutes after the latter of those two deals was confirmed, the club released an update that perhaps explains their last-minute rush into the transfer market.

A club statement quotes Klopp as saying: “Unfortunately, we found out now after everybody looked at it that Joel will be out for the rest of the season.

“But he will be ready for the start of the next pre-season and finally everything will be sorted.”

Matip joins fellow centre-backs Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez on the long-term injury list, while makeshift defender Fabinho is expected to miss the upcoming clash with Brighton. Davies and Kabak, then, may have to learn on their feet, with the inexperienced Rhys Williams and Nat Phillips the only other central defenders available.

It was a last-gasp challenge to deny Son Heung-min in the 3-1 victory over Spurs that ultimately caused Matip’s injury, and Klopp added: “It was really unlucky because it was a brilliant challenge he made actually, he saved our life in that moment in the Tottenham game when he won the challenge against Son.

“But he injured his ankle and played the game on and now is out for the season, so you can imagine how much he tried to stay on the pitch and tried to help us.

“We will wait for him. He has now the rest of this season, then the summer, then the pre-season to get ready again and he will be ready again.”

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Paulo Gazzaniga leaves Tottenham to join Elche on loan

Tottenham have announced that out-of-favour keeper Paulo Gazzaniga has joined Elche on loan until the end of the season.

The 29-year-old completed a last minute deadline day switch and will join the La Liga relegation strugglers until the conclusion of the 2020/21 campaign.

Gazzaniga was a favourite of former boss Mauricio Pochettino but has found himself out of the picture since Jose Mourinho’s arrival as head coach. Captain Hugo Lloris has retained the starting gloves, while Joe Hart has been Mourinho’s go-to number two after joining the club on a free transfer last summer.

The Argentine keeper hasn’t made a single appearance this season, and the club have now confirmed he will head to Spain in order to play regular football between now and May.

In total, Gazzaniga has made 37 appearances for Tottenham after following Pochettino to the club from Southampton in 2017. He made his debut for the club against Crystal Palace in November 2017, helping Spurs pick up a narrow 1-0 win with a performance that had his manager saying he performed “fantastically well” considering it was his debut.

Sporadic appearances followed over the next couple of seasons, predominantly in the League Cup, before Gazzaniga was handed an extended run in the first team last season after Lloris dislocated his elbow at Brighton.

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Gazzaniga took over goalkeeping duties from Hugo Lloris during 2019/20 because of injury | Harriet Lander/Copa/Getty Images

He made 18 Premier League appearances, largely performing well as Spurs attempted to overcome a sluggish start – that ended up costing Pochettino his job as manager – and compete for European qualification.

Lloris regained his place in the latter stages of the season, but Gazzaniga’s contribution helped Spurs secure a Europa League berth on the final day. It’s unknown at this stage whether or not he has a long-term future in north London, but his continued exclusion from squads this season would indicate his time may be coming to an end.

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