Jurgen Klopp has expressed his delight at the signing of midfielder Wataru Endo from Stuttgart.
The 30-year-old’s £16.2m move from the Bundesliga outfit to Liverpool was officially announced earlier today and the Japan international has agreed a four-year deal .
The former Borussia Dortmund boss was keen to explain why the Reds have made a move for the deep-lying midfielder who not many supporters will have heard of.
“I’m really happy,” Klopp said (as quoted by Liverpool World). “Wataru is a really good player. I know in this world of football how it goes and stuff like this, but have a look, have a look, because he’s a really good player.
“Experienced player, captain of Stuttgart, captain of Japan, speaks good English, nice fella, family man, machine on the pitch, good footballer on top of that, sensational attitude. So, I’m really happy. He’s a good footballer, very experienced and loves to work extremely hard.”
With both Jordan Henderson and Fabinho swapping Merseyside for the Middle East last month and the fact that we missed out on both Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia (both to Chelsea), it was clear that we needed to sign a new No. 6.
Alexis Mac Allister started in the deeper midfield role at Stamford Bridge at the weekend and although he showed glimpses of his potential the Argentina international is someone who likes to influence the game from a more advanced position.
Endo will offer protection to our backline, just like Fabinho did excellently following his move to Liverpool from Monaco in 2018, and there’s no doubt that our attacking players will benefit from having a tough-tackling and energetic presence in the engine room.
We understand that it was a blow to lose out on both Caicedo and Lavia but there’s no reason why our new No. 3 can’t play a vital role for the club moving forward as we look to compete on all four fronts.
#Ep85 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: EOTK Insider with Jan Åge Fjørtoft on Wataru Endo🎙️