Arne Slot heaps PRAISE on Liverpool's unsung hero

The summer of 2023 was far from ideal for Liverpool at the time, particularly on the midfield incomings, with two of their first-choice targets turning them down. 

The Reds secured the signatures of Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister who have proven to be fantastic coups but their pursuit for a holding midfielder didn’t go to plan.

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Romeo Lavia and Moises Caicedo both opted for Chelsea over Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool leaving the Anfield side to sign Wataru Endo from Stutggart, who was unknown to most.

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It came with criticism from many, given the reactionary nature of the signing. But over time, the value of Endo has been evident.

The Japanese midfielder played 43 times in Klopp’s final season, being one of the stand out players too. Performances against Manchester City at Anfield and the Carabao Cup final against Caicedo and co’s Chelsea.

Arne Slot waxes lyrical on Wataru Endo

The development of Ryan Gravenberch this year has seen Endo play much less minutes than he’d desire but after a superb display against centre half against Accrington on Saturday, Arne Slot has waxed lyrical on Liverpool’s number three.

Slot has no qualms about playing Endo in his back line given the professionalism of the Japanese international.

“I know what kind of person Wata is. He’s just, ‘Whenever you play me I will do my best, wherever you play me’.

“If it’s five minutes before the end, he comes in and gives everything he has and that might be normal for a lot of fans to hear,” Slot said.

“So he’s an important part of our team. Every time we need him in the midfield or even now as a centre-back, because I didn’t want to bring Ibou [Konate] in two days after he played against United and after 20 minutes we already had to make a substitution.

“And he did really well, Wata, because the moment I took him out of our last line, we conceded,” the Dutchman added.

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