Jurgen Klopp has defended his transfer decision to sign Takumi Minamino instead of Borussia Dortmund's goal-bagging Erling Haaland
RB Salzburg saw both Minamino and Erling Haaland leaving the Austrian Bundesliga earlier this year with Liverpool completing a low-key £7.25m deal for Minamino while they fled off Haaland's huge initial price tag, leaving the Norwegian striker to join Borussia Dortmund for a £17m fee at the end.
Minamino has made just four appearances since joining the Reds, coming in as a sub in two.
But in contrast Haaland has proven an instant success since leaving Salzburg scoring 11 goals in seven appearances for Dortmund.
Klopp is aware of the difference Haaland has made since joining Dortmund, even scoring twice against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last-16.
But the German manager who has been masterminding some masterpiece Liverpool transfer in the past is however not ready to welcome any comparison between the former teammates despite their initial impression have differ wildly.
"The difference couldn’t be bigger," said Klopp. "Erling Haaland made a perfect choice with Dortmund, and Taki made a perfect choice.
"Taki finds here a completely different situation. That’s normal. We have no problems, nowhere really (for him to start) particularly in an offensive position, but we need variation at moments.
"Taki tries everything. Against the ball he is top class, but if you ask him, although he doesn’t say it, he wants to do what we want him to do. But we want him to do what he does naturally.
"That’s the time we need, and you lose a little bit of quality in that period until you fight back.
"He knows how I see it, how I think about it, about the people who have had the same problems before. He is fine, is training really hard, but it’s a situation you can’t compare (with Haaland)."
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