Last summer, Liverpool, in search of a defensive midfielder, set out to acquire young Premier League midfielders Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia. However, they both moved to Chelsea and had to turn their attention to other targets.
From there, Liverpool acted quickly, and when they spotted Japanese midfielder Wataru Endo, who was playing for Stuttgart at the time, they paid a fee of 19 million euros for him.
Immediately after joining the club, Endo struggled with the Premier League and Klopp’s football, and was unable to show his ability.
Nevertheless, the 31-year-old veteran midfielder gradually settled into the team and responded with his best performances in December last year.
Since then, he has started more and more often, becoming an integral part of the team’s midfield and winning over supporters who had previously been suspicious of him.
With Klopp out and new manager Arne Slot in charge, the national team captain’s position is in jeopardy at Liverpool. With the new manager looking for a midfielder who is better on the ball and has a good passing sense, his opportunities are expected to decrease significantly.
Referring to the player’s treatment, Paul Joyce, a reporter for The Times, said he plans to break away from the 31-year-old defensive midfielder and hinted at a possible move.
“Slot wants Liverpool to play a more possession-based game and strengthening at No6 with a technical player has been a priority.”
“It seems he wants to move away from Wataru Endo, who was signed last summer from Stuttgart after Liverpool failed with bids for Moisés Caicedo and Roméo Lavia. Both players signed for Chelsea.”
However, as the midfielder has turned around a position where he was never treated as a starter last season and has risen to become a regular, there is a probability that the new midfielder will take on a different role in the team, so it cannot be an easy move.
With Liverpool changing their preferred style of play and formation with the arrival of the Dutch coach, how will the Japanese midfielder fare at Liverpool, or will he just leave the club in the future?