Rumor Mongering: Yet Another Club Joins Race for £17m Takumi Minamino

It is certain as it is possible to be about anything in football that Takumi Minamino has played his final game for Liverpool.

The attacker managed to carve out a role for himself this season as the domestic cup king, scoring seven of his 10 goals in the League and FA Cups as a driving inspiration in both trophy lifts. And yet, despite showing flashes of promise, the 27-year-old never managed to force himself into Jurgen Klopp’s thinking in his two-and-half-years at Anfield.

However, it would appear that registering a goal involvement roughly every 90 minutes as a rotational attacker will do wonders for a player’s transfer prospects, with the Japanese international currently fielding a host of suitors in the Premier League and around Europe.

Monaco is said to be leading the race for the ex-RB Salzburg man, with Leeds, Wolves, Southampton and Fulham also hotly on the trail. And now another French side has thrown their hat into the ring, with The Times’ Paul Joyce reporting that Lyon are also interested in Minamino.

A bidding war over a clearly-talented player could allow Liverpool to exceed the £17m valuation they have placed on the no. 18, a figure already a near doubling of the reported £9.35m the Reds paid to bring him to Anfield.

However, it shakes out, it does appear that Minamino has a good chance of finding a new home soon.