Former Liverpool striker Michael Owen has weighed on the transfer of Japanese international Wataru Endo.
According to Owen, Endo might be disappointed for not securing the holding midfield position at Liverpool, acknowledging that the Japanese player is considered a “step down” from Fabinho.
Endo, who joined Liverpool in the summer from Stuttgart for £16 million, has made only 14 appearances for the Reds. Jurgen Klopp chose to start him in the midfield against LASK in the Europa League, making nine changes from the previous match against Manchester City.
“There’s no natural sitting central midfielder really in that Liverpool squad bar him. Yet they’re moving Mac Allister into that position in the big games, So I’d say he’s probably a little bit disappointed he hasn’t made that position his own,” Owen told the Mirror.
The holding midfield position was seen as a major hole that Liverpool had to address in the summer just gone. When they signed Endo from Stuttgart, they thought they had their man for that role. However, so far, the Japanese midfielder has not stomped his authority on the Liverpool team – leading to fans labelling Endo as a disappointment.
It was always a tough ask for someone to come in as Fabinho’s replacement and have a similar effect as the Brazilian had on the team. But it’s an even tougher ask for someone to do it if they can’t even get into the team.