Make no mistake; Wataru Endo massively outperformed expectations last season.
The Japan captain arrived from Stuttgart to much confusion after Liverpool missed out on Moises Caicedo to Chelsea in summer 2023.
Having had a £110m bid accepted for the Ecuadorian, signing Endo for closer to £16m was fairly underwhelming. Many fans hadn’t even heard of the 31-year-old and his debut against Newcastle was so bad a section wrote him off immediately.
But in 2023/24, Endo outperformed Caicedo by some distance; most notably in the EFL Cup Final when our no.3 put in a genuinely heroic performance alongside a team of Academy players against Chelsea’s billion-pound-bottle-jobs.
Around Christmas, Endo forced himself into the side as a regular and he enjoyed an exceptional run, culminating in his best outing of the season at home to Manchester City.
Endo outplayed Rodri and Kevin de Bruyne. Nobody does that. He was magnificent and there were no longer any Reds doubting his contribution.
Like his team-mates though, Endo dropped off at the end of the season when Liverpool failed to chase for a title we were bookies favourites for with six games left. He looked tired. But he played more than anyone really expected and overall his first campaign in England was a big success.
A few weeks back, Liverpool rejected an offer for Endo from Marseille, worth £11.8m according to BBC Sport. According to James Pearce of the Athletic, the primary reason for the Reds rejecting the approach was because a lack of replacement options available in the market this summer.
The reports suggest though that Liverpool would be open to a sale if the offer was big enough and that opportunities to bring in another defensive midfielder arise.
Endo played the first-half of Arne Slot’s first pre-season friendly against Real Betis and was woeful. It was a comically bad performance, but obviously not much should be judged on pre-season friendlies.
The main question though is whether Endo suits the possession style of football Slot is trying to introduce.
Under Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool were about transitions, and as a result, we conceded lots of chances and territory. Even against poor sides, we gave away goals and shooting chances and it ultimately cost us in our pursuit of the title, along with wayward finishing.
Slot wants his team to take less risks. Essentially, he wants Liverpool to play more like Arsenal and Manchester City.
“In the past it was a rush to get the ball back, a bit too direct, up and down, up and down. Now we want to have all the ball and completely kill a team,” a smiling Curtis Jones said before the Real Betis match [Sky Sports].
Team-mate Harvey Elliott was equally as excited…
“It’s very elegant, Dutch style, it’s very nice. The style of play is a lot different. It’s more about in possession now,” he told BBC Sport.
“The players are excited, we play certain patterns, it is a good buzz around the team and the lads are excited to apply it in games.
“It’s a fresh start for everyone. I don’t think it is nerves but excitement. I think we [will learn it] very quickly to be honest. We have seen in the last game there were certain moments where the amazing football was free-flowing.”
Does this kind of game-plan, when the midfielders control the tempo and keep the ball suit Endo? Maybe not. He actually can play quite good through-the-line passes but he is too slow on the ball and often his first-touch lets him down.
Jones, Alexis Mac Allister, Elliott and hopefully Dom Szoboszlai and Stefan Bajcetic will thrive in this style. It’s a crying shame Thiago has retired and isn’t five years younger, as he would be the ideal midfielder in this tactic, but there we go.
For me, Endo is probably expendable. He’s a terrific person and a good footballer, but Liverpool aren’t winning a title with him at the base of our midfield.
£11m isn’t enough, and we could probably get £20m considering how his stock has risen. This is dependant on securing a replacement, of course, and it certainly doesn’t look like one is imminent.
Liverpool are the only side in the top five leagues who haven’t signed a single player this summer. That’s pretty crazy. I expect us to sign two first-team options, even if it’s four we really need, although Richard Hughes is leaking nothing – we’re all going to find out at the last minute.
The post Editor’s Column: Should Liverpool sell Wataru Endo? appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.
