'What a player!' - Lucas singles out midfielder for praise after outstanding City display

Wataru Endo continues to go from strength to strength in the Liverpool midfield. Now established firmly as an Anfield cult hero, the Japan international was named man of the match for his performance in the Premier League against Manchester City on Sunday. 

Endo, 31, was a relatively unheralded signing when the Reds paid around £16 million to take him from Stuttgart in the Bundesliga. 

Having missed out on Moises Caicedo, who joined Chelsea for around seven times the price, Jurgen Klopp was in need of a midfielder on short notice and Endo fit the bill perfectly. 

Endo gave everything over 120 selfless minutes two weeks ago as Liverpool claimed the Carabao Cup against Chelsea at Wembley, leaving the stadium on crutches. 

But he has been right at the heart of the battle since, with the Merseysiders contending with an injury crisis that sees them currently without midfield options like Curtis Jones, Thiago Alcantara and Stefan Bajcetic. 

The game against City, a hard-fought 1-1 draw, brought perhaps his best outing as a Liverpool player to date. 

Alongside Alexis Mac Allister in the Anfield engine room, Endo bossed the midfield against an all-star City lineup including Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri and Bernardo Silva, being crowned as the game’s best player in the process. 

Endo completed 55 of his 57 passes, won three out of his four duels, made six recoveries, two interceptions and won two of his two aerial duels for good measure. 

What a player! Lucas salutes Endo

And his display did not go unnoticed by one former Liverpool midfielder, who took to social media to salute Endo for a job well done. 

Lucas Leiva spent a decade at the club, playing close to 400 matches, and believes Endo is a fine exponent of the centre midfield position. 

“What a player you are @wataru0209, makes the team keep going and connecting all the time,” the former Brazil international wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

As Klopp and Liverpool aim for a quadruple this season, Endo is going to be crucial between now and the time his manager signs off as Reds boss at the end of the current campaign.