‘What a signing’… Paul Merson says Liverpool pulled off a brilliant piece of business last summer

Add as preferred source on Google

Liverpool’s summer business of 2023 could hardly have gone much better.

Having brought in four new players and revamped their midfield, the Reds have gone from a weary looking, leggy side to one now challenging on all fronts at the business end of the season.

People will have their own opinions over which signing has turned out the best. Dominik Szoboszlai was the early front-runner, while Alexis Mac Allister has grown stature as time has worn on.

Wataru Endo has proven to about as astute an addition as there ever has been and Ryan Gravenberch is still expected to come good. A heck of a haul. In truth any could maybe take the top spot, but writing for Sportskeeda, pundit Paul Merson has singled out Endo for special praise today.

“Wataru Endo is a player I’ve been really impressed by, what a signing he’s been!” raved the former England midfielder.

“Very rarely does Klopp get it wrong with transfers, I can’t recall looking at one of their signings over the years and saying ‘damn, he was a major waste of money’, which is a huge compliment to everyone who works behind the scenes.”

Merson hails Endo impact

Endo really has been an absolute beauty of a signing. You can keep your £100m megastars and you’re long drawn out transfers sagas, we love a cheap, unknown signing from out of nowhere.

It doesn’t often happen these days. In the age of social media and 24 hour news cycles, everything seems to be out in the open. The excitement of a transfer has often died down long before the player eventually joins.

But with Endo, nobody saw it coming at all. One day he was there, the next he was here. And on the next day, the Japan captain got straight to work. He hasn’t looked back since.

It did take a short while for Endo to find his groove at Liverpool. But once he did, the No.3 has gone on to be one of the Reds best players this season.

Liverpool are yet to lose a Premier League game that Endo has started in and fans have recently been seen singing a new song in his honour. He has truly arrived.

Now 31 though, it remains to be seen whether the former Stuttgart enforcer has a proper future at Anfield once Jurgen Klopp leaves.

Younger alternatives like Porto’s Alan Varela are rumoured to be on Liverpool’s radar. There’s every chance the new manager will want to bring in his own long-term fix.

But Endo deserves to be in that conversation. He may be approaching veteran status, but the Japanese is as fit as a fiddle. Without him Liverpool wouldn’t be where they are now, it’s that simple. What a signing indeed.