This article is part of Football FanCast's Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news...

According to The Daily Mirror, Liverpool are interested in signing RB Salzburg's Takumi Minamino in January.

What's the story?

The 24-year-old has played twice against the Reds already this season, and even scored at Anfield earlier in the campaign.

Now, it is being said that the Merseyside outfit's hierarchy are pursuing the Japan international. Apparently, he has a release clause of just £7.75m in his contract.

Firmino successor

Minamino has been in fantastic form so far this season. In 22 games in all competitions, he has nine goals and 11 assists, and he has played just one game up front during that time. As part of a young and vibrant Salzburg side, he has arguably been one of their stand-out players.

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In Europe, he has played most of his games in attacking midfield, just as he did against Liverpool. In that position, he has picked up a WhoScored rating of 7.31, which is not to be sniffed at. That has allowed him to pick up one goal and two assists as well.

In Salzburg's 4-3-1-2 formation which we saw against the Reds, Minamino almost took up a deep-lying centre-forward role as part of an attacking trio, as you can see in the heat-map below. Much like Roberto Firmino does at Liverpool, as a matter of fact.

The similarities between the two do not stop there, either. Both provide more for their teammates than they score themselves - the Brazil international has just four goals but has provided nine assists this term, whilst also contributing 1.8 key passes per match in the continental competition - and, perhaps most importantly, they are both defensive forces as part of their respective teams.

Minamino has 1.2 tackles per match, which is clearly more than both Erling Haaland and Hwang Hee-Chan, whilst Firmino has made 1.7 himself. Yes, that may be less than Sadio Mane's 1.8, but in his case, we are talking about a player who finished fourth in the Ballon d'Or rankings - he is something of an anomaly.

As we saw on Tuesday in the Red Bull Arena, Minamino works incredibly hard, which is something the former Hoffenheim man has been praised for. Liverpool currently have Divock Origi as the back-up option for Firmino and, although he has done well, scoring five times this term, he is not the same kind of player as the 28-year-old. For just £7.75m, Minamino would represent a bargain that could slot seamlessly into Klopp's XI.

In other news, this 24-year-old could be the man Liverpool fans wanted Georginio Wijnaldum to be.